Patching Up Broken Souls
by Costas TT
Summary: AU fic based on the Vampire Twins arc of the anime, partly inspired by some movies I like. Young assassins Hansel and Gretel arrive in Roanapur for a job, but things then take an interesting turn. Starring Rock & Revy, plus Balalaika and the Twins. Many familiar characters will also be appearing. Rating is mostly Revy's fault.
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone! I recently discovered the Black Lagoon anime and loved it. This is the result. Even though my life keeps me quite busy, I believe I can promise weekly updates for this story. Of course, it ain't mine, all disclaimers apply, etc.

* * *

They were born on a cold winter afternoon not very long after the turn of the year to a poor couple from a rural area of Romania at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. As their parents already had three other children to raise and couldn't possibly afford them as well, they simply abandoned them to a state-run institution. From then on, things should have taken a certain established and thoroughly unpleasant course, given the socio-economic conditions prevalent in the country at the time under Ceausescu's regime.

However, this was when the brutal and much feared Securitate, the State security apparatus, stepped in. The whole scheme was the brainchild of a mid-ranking but very much ambitious officer, whose own colleagues called him "Tepes", meaning "Impaler" behind his back, for his extremely brutal methods of suppressing dissent among the population. The two children being healthy and of hardy peasant stock was a deciding factor in them being selected for the Impaler's project over hundreds of other potential subjects.

Thus, as soon as the project he'd proposed received approval from his superiors and a budget, the twins were removed from the orphanage, taken to a secret Securitate facility and given code names. Never having learned the names their parents had given them, they were always known as Hansel and Gretel. Starting as soon as they could walk, they were trained to become the perfect killing machines, learning to handle firearms, edged weapons, explosives and even unarmed combat. They were also taught English and French, in addition to their native Romanian. Even before the twins turned eight, they were considered to be a success as a project. In fact, their handler was so impressed by their progress that he wanted to give them an operational test, his superiors were not as enthusiastic, however, insisting on waiting a little longer before unleashing them on the enemies of the state, real and imagined, foreign and domestic.

And then came the events of 1989 and the sudden fall of the Ceausescu regime, culminating in the swift trial and execution of the dictator and his wife and plunging the country into a period of turmoil. The Impaler wasn't one to sit around and wait until his past misdeeds caught up with him, so he took care to destroy as much evidence of his pet project, as well as kill as many of those who knew about it, as he could and fled the country together with the twins and all the cash he could get his hands on.

-o-

In the chaos following the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, new organized crime syndicates were formed, many of them recruiting former military and intelligence personnel. These quickly forged alliances or at least mutually profitable relationships with existing and long established criminal organizations such as the Italian Mafia. The Impaler was careful not to join any outfit, old or new, but rather hire out his services to them on an as-required basis.

During the years that followed, Hansel and Gretel made quite a name for themselves as assassins, working first in their home country for some local crime lords, then for the brutal Albanian mafias and later for the more sophisticated Italian organizations. Extreme violence became their hallmark and eventually became known in certain criminal circles as "The Vampire Twins". After all, killing was all they knew how to do and they did it exceptionally well.

Still, unleashing them on their various targets had one unexpected consequence; the twins began to see the real world… or parts of it at least, but in any case enough for them to come to realize that there was so much more than the bubble they were being kept inside.

Sometimes, when casing their objectives, one of them would also observe their surroundings in general just out of curiosity, while the other was focused on the target. And what they saw didn't exactly tally with what their handler was telling them. Slowly but surely, the real world began to overcome their conditioning and made them question the fake reality imposed on them. Of course, they were smart enough to hide it all from the Impaler. They had learned over time how painful the punishments inflicted on them by their handler for various slip-ups could be. Though, having been essentially raised as attack dogs, they were hesitant to turn on their master, no matter how easy it would be for them to kill him and make him disappear for good, a kind of thing they had considerable experience in. This didn't mean that they didn't commit small acts of rebellion in their own way. For example, all petty cash the Impaler gave them as sort of an allowance went towards buying snacks they had seen other kids enjoy, plus comics and other magazines, passing the latter off as wanting to practice their language skills, something their handler approved. His ego was flushed with the apparent success and he never realized they were taking the first baby steps towards an emancipation of sorts.

-o-

For the moment, the Neapolitan Camorra had retained the Impaler's – and by extension the twins' – services for a job in France. The target was a bunch of Georgian mobsters (ignorant fucking bumpkins from a former Soviet backwater trying to punch way above their league, as one Italian put it) in Marseilles.

"I'm bored, Fratele meu," said Gretel in Romanian as she peered at the target through a pair of binoculars. "They are doing nothing but sit around drinking and playing cards. They barely seem to discuss business at any time. Anything interesting on your end?"

Hansel lowered his own field glasses and turned to his sister. "You'd better take a look, Sora mea." They switched places and Gretel zoomed in on what her brother had been looking at. There was a gathering in a nearby park. Children about their own age were apparently having an outdoor birthday party with their parents in attendance.

"Makes you wonder just how much else we've been missing," she mused sadly, the words spoken so quietly that Hansel barely heard her. In any case, even without hearing her, he'd have known what she said. These few words had become one of her standard phrases when the two were alone. "Back to the job at hand, how do you think we should do it, brother?"

He didn't reply immediately, instead concentrating on observing the marks. "They are all in a single room, no guards outside and just one watching the door from the inside, armed with a sawed-off, pump-action shotgun that was resting on his lap. We could go in through the door and take them all out before they know what hit them."

"I sense a 'but' coming," she said.

He smiled. "This is a densely populated area. There could be too many witnesses if we go in and make a ruckus with guns blazing and axes swinging. I say a bomb or, better yet, a rocket in the room should suffice."

"Rocket it is," she agreed. "Our employers said they can provide anything we want."

"An RPG-7D should fit easily inside one of our backpacks," Hansel said, voicing exactly what was in his twin's mind as well. The paratrooper model of the famous weapon was designed to break up in two parts for easy transportation. A launcher and a few rounds of ammunition could easily be hidden inside a couple of backpacks. "And bicycles for the getaway," he added. Assuming the job was done at a reasonably early hour in the evening, no cop responding to the incident would consider two kids riding bicycles to be suspicious.

"We have a plan," she concluded. Business done for the time being, both decided to spend some more time studying the tableaux of normal peoples' lives they could see from their observation post before calling it a night and heading back to the hotel where their handler waited for them to report back.

The job in Marseilles was completed the next day with absolute success. Hansel and Gretel had even had the time to stop at a mom-and-pop store to buy ice cream and comics even before the first police cars arrived at the scene. The Italians were so pleased to be rid of some annoying competition that they added a bonus to the assassins' fee – almost all of which went into the Impaler's pockets, of course.

-o-

Moving to a new location after a job was standard procedure for the Impaler and his "attack dogs" and this time it was a Mafia-owned apartment in the Sicilian resort town of San Vito Lo Capo, where the three waited to hear about a new job the Italians had said they were lining up for them.

This time, instead of a call, a high-ranking mob Boss paid them a visit. From the respect their handler was showing the man, the twins could plainly see that he was a very important man, so they just sat there quietly, having rather redundantly been warned to be on their best behavior, and waited for him to speak, which he eventually did, his English grammatically correct, but heavily accented.

"I have an important job for you three," he said after taking a seat in the living room. "And this time it's in a place far, far away." Yes, the mobster was prone to theatrics. "It's a place called Roanapur." He turned to the twins. "Do you know where it is, kids?"

"Sounds Oriental, sir," Hansel replied.

"India or Southeast Asia, probably," Gretel guessed. There were a lot of places that had names ending with 'pur' over there.

"Correct," said the man and applauded. "Specifically, Roanapur is a city in southeast Thailand." He then addressed the Impaler. "I'm not going to lie to you, my friend; this will probably be the most difficult job you've ever taken, assuming you accept. If you do, and carry it out successfully, the compensation will be more than satisfactory."

"We won't disappoint you, Don Emilio," he said.

"Eccellente," said the Don. "I'll make all the necessary arrangements with our people in Roanapur as well as take care of your flight there. We will make a private jet available for you, so you can take your weapons with you and not have to worry about anything."


	2. Chapter 2

I had some extra time, so this was finished somewhat earlier than expected. Having introduced Hansel and Gretel, it's time to see what the Lagoon Company are up to and start setting the stage for the more important events, plus earn the rating. By the way, no beta readers are being harmed for this. Also, thank you for your reviews, favorites and alerts.

* * *

The entire team was gathered in the lounge of the Lagoon Company offices in Roanapur. Dutch, the big black Vietnam veteran who was the boss and captain of the old World War II vintage Elco 80-foot PT Boat, named the Black Lagoon, that the Company used, was sprawled in a comfortable armchair drinking from a can of beer and munching on a slice of pizza. Benny, the ponytailed blond computer geek, was idly smoking a cigarette on a couch, having already finished his lunch. The couch on the other side of the coffee table was occupied by the remaining two members of the team; 'Two-Hands' Revy, the group's gunslinger, was sitting cross-legged facing one arm of the couch, her boots discarded nearby and the shoulder rig for her twin Beretta 92FS Sword Cutlass customized pistols draped over the back of the couch. Her left hand was holding the hem of her cropped black tank top up, exposing her left shoulder blade, while Rokuro 'Rock' Okajima, the Japanese ex-salaryman and for the last few months newest member of the team, was tending to an injury she had suffered not twenty minutes earlier. The first aid kit he was using was on the coffee table, competing for space with two pizza boxes, several cans of beer, not all of them full, various papers, magazines, cigarette packs and a couple of overflowing ashtrays.

"Ouch! Watch it, dumbass! This shit stings!" Revy protested as Rock continued to apply disinfectant to her wound.

"Sorry, Revy, there's nothing I can do about it. Try and keep still, OK? This way it will all be over much sooner," Rock said through the surgical mask he was wearing (an overkill, really), while continuing to treat her injury with his latex glove-covered hands.

"Fuck," she growled. "And to think we did the job without a scratch! Just my crappy motherfucking luck!"

"We got paid well, though," Benny added his two cents.

"Two-Hands' bloodlust kicked in right when needed," commented Dutch. The job had been a delivery on behalf of the Thailand branch of the Hong Kong-based Sun Yee On Triad, led by Bai Ji-Shin Chang. Deliver the goods, pick up the payment, bring it back to Mr. Chang and that was it. Simple, until a third party had tried to grab both the shipment and the payment, resulting in a small bloodbath on a sandy beach fringed by lush jungle vegetation. Both Mr. Chang and his client had been pleased at the outcome, enough to add a bonus each to the Lagoon Company's payment.

"That was not some random bloodlust, Dutch," Rock corrected him, looking up from his task. "She was more like a Viking Berserker of old." Fearless, determined and hell-bent on victory, that's how Revy had looked to Rock as he watched her deal death with her twin Berettas from where he'd taken cover behind a crate on a small wooden pier.

She decided that she liked it. "Is that a compliment, Rocky Baby?" Revy cooed.

"Damn straight it is. Now sit still and let me work."

"Fucking hurts," she complained. "It's your fault," she added.

"How is it my fault? Dutch is heavier than I am!" Rock protested. The three of them had been going down a staircase leading to an alley after being paid. Unfortunately, the wood had rotted through and their combined weight caused it to collapse while they were near the bottom, a broken piece of the railing badly scratching Revy's back as she fell.

Dutch sighed. It was just like having to deal with kindergarteners sometimes. "It's no one's fault. If you need someone to blame, blame the clowns who own the place, Revy."

"OK, OK, I get it," she grumbled. "Hurry up, will ya, Rock? OW! That hurt! What are you doing back there, anyway?"

"I'm trying to remove the wood splinters, Revy," he explained patiently. "By the way, I think you may need a tetanus shot as well, just in case."

"Got one when Balalaika's medic patched me up after that fucking bitch Terminator maid shot me," she replied irritably. She turned her head as far to the left as it could go and saw the blue plastic tweezers Rock was using to pluck the variously sized splinters of rotten wood from her back. "Ugh, you're taking too damn long!"

"Here," said Dutch, handing Rock a squeeze bottle of saline solution. "It'll wash away most of the debris and save you both time and griping." To keep Revy quiet, Benny held a can of cold beer out to her, which she immediately snatched from his hand with a huff, opening it clumsily with one hand and guzzling about half its contents in one gulp.

"Thanks, Dutch," said Rock. He first grabbed a clean towel, tucking it into the waistband of Revy's Daisy Dukes and then proceeded to do as Dutch had just suggested. It sped up the task considerably. The final task before placing an adhesive dressing over the scraped area was to mop up the remainder of the blood that had trickled down her back with an alcohol swab. As he ran it up her ribcage she squirmed and grunted.

"Does it hurt?"

"No," she replied through clenched teeth, but couldn't hold back a giggle.

"Revy, are you ticklish?" Rock asked.

"No!"

The fingers of his right hand tapped a random pattern up and down her right side, causing her to jump noticeably and snort, trying to hold it together. "You ARE ticklish!"

"Rock, I'm gonna fuckin' kill you, dipshit! And if any one of you so much as breathes a word about this…" she let the threat hang.

By now, he was used to her threatening him on a regular basis, so he was totally unfazed. "There," he said, after fixing the dressing over her wound. "All nice and pretty again. Your shirt is ruined though."

"None of you assholes look, if you value your lives," she threatened. Satisfied they were all looking away, she swiftly yanked the torn and bloody tank top off, balling it up and tossing it in the direction of a trash can before replacing it with another she'd taken from the bag of spare clothes she kept at the office. "OK," she said simply. Finally, she was free to eat and grabbed a slice of pizza from one of the boxes on the coffee table. Dutch and Benny had already finished one, leaving the other for her and Rock, before heading off to the dock to refuel the boat, Benny taking care to repack the first aid kit and put it back in its place. The slices of still warm pizza soon disappeared from the box, a few more empty beer cans were strewn on the coffee table and the floor and more cigarette butts were added to the already full ashtrays.

Hunger, thirst and nicotine cravings sated, Rock was the first to succumb to the pull of sleep. After all, neither he nor Revy had slept much the previous night, being busy preparing for the job. Revy yawned widely and simply stretched her shapely body along the length of the couch, her head coming to rest on Rock's left thigh. She made herself comfortable with a purr of contentment and closed her eyes. "Fucking A," she murmured, seconds before falling asleep as well.

That was how Dutch and Benny found them when they returned. Rock's shoeless feet were propped up on the coffee table, his tie loosened, the top buttons of his dress shirt undone, his head resting on the back of the couch, his left arm hanging off the edge of the couch and his right hand resting lightly on Revy's shoulder as he snored quietly. As for Revy… she didn't look at all like the trigger-happy, bloodthirsty, quick tempered, ruthless gunslinger she was. She looked, well, normal, as she slept with a soft smile on her face.

"Look at them," Dutch said, smiling.

"I'm getting my camera!" Benny whispered.

"Do as you wish, but make sure she doesn't see the pictures, ever."

"Huh?"

"Four words: 'You wanna die, Benny?'" Dutch parroted one of the standard phrases their redheaded hellion often directed at the computer expert.

"Not really," Benny quoted his standard reply, but went to get the camera anyway and took a few quick shots. "Should we wake them up?"

"Nah… let them sleep. They need it. You know, Benny Boy, as an employer I'm happy to see they've established a certain rapport with each other. I mean, Rock got along with the two of us right from the beginning, but now it seems that Revy's warmed up to him considerably."

"They still argue a lot though," Benny pointed out.

"It can't be helped. But still, she hasn't killed him yet, has she?" Although neither Rock nor Revy had ever talked about it, and Dutch hadn't asked, the big man suspected that something had happened between the two the day Chief Watsup had called him to bail them out. Whatever said something was, it had resulted in some kind of understanding between the mismatched pair of a white collar ex-businessman and a fiery tempered gunslinger. Looking at it from an employer's viewpoint, Dutch knew it was a good thing.

-o-

While Rock and Revy were still napping, a private jet touched down at Bangkok's Don Mueang International Airport. There, a car was made available to the Romanian assassin team, who promptly got started on the journey to Roanapur. The Impaler was driving, while the twins were practically glued to the windows, taking in the scenery with wide eyes. Having spent their entire lives so far either in the training facility back in Romania or in various cities in Europe for work, the new sights aroused their curiosity.

"Enjoying the scenery, team?"

"Yes sir," the twins chorused.

The Impaler stuck a cigarette between his lips and lit it with the car lighter before shrugging. "We'll be in Roanapur in about a couple of hours. First, we'll stop at the residence we have been given to use as our base and then we'll go see our employer for a briefing." Uncharacteristically for him, he had accepted the job without a full rundown on the targets. The money offered was that good and greed had overcome his good sense. All he knew was that they would have to take out the heads of at least two of the Mafia's rival cartels.

"Yes sir," the kids repeated from the back seat.

"Good. We'll stop at the first town we find to get something to eat and stretch our legs before going to Roanapur."

-o-

The phone managed half a ring before Dutch snatched it from its cradle. "Lagoon Company," he said.

"Hello Dutch," a feminine voice said.

"Hello Balalaika," Dutch responded.

"I know it's on a rather short notice, but can you spare Rock for a few days?"

Dutch knew what Balalaika wanted from the former businessman. Hotel Moscow had dealings with Japanese crime syndicates and Rock was often called upon to act as a translator, mediator and even negotiator. "Sure thing. We didn't have some spares we needed when we gave the Lagoon her last scheduled maintenance, but I'll have the stuff today or tomorrow. You can have Rock for as long as it takes me and Benny to finish working on her." Even with the improvements, such as fuel injection systems instead of carburetors for the engines to improve their fuel efficiency, he'd made on the boat, the fact remained that she was over forty five years old, thus rather maintenance intensive, plus certain spares were hard to come by or had to be made to order by specialist machine shops.

"Excellent," the Russian Mafia czarina replied. "Rock will be paid well and you'll receive a commission as well, plus I may need the Lagoon Company to do some courier work for me right here in Roanapur."

"Every little bit helps," Dutch said gratefully. "Thank you."

"Tell him to come to the office first thing tomorrow. See you around, Dutch."

"Will do." He hung up the phone and turned to rouse Rock. "Hey, Rock," he said, shaking the younger man's shoulder. "Rise and shine!"

Rock opened his eyes and looked blearily at his boss. "We got a new job?"

"Kind of," the big easygoing man replied. "I'll tell you in a bit. Oh, and wake Revy."

Hearing that, Rock's gaze dropped to where the woman's head rested. Seeing her so peaceful, he allowed himself a small smile and gathered his courage for the task at hand. He needed it, because, friend and associate or not, she was quite a volatile character. "Revy," he spoke in her ear, while gently shaking her shoulder. "Wake up."

"Nuh-uh. Don't wanna," she grumbled without opening her eyes.

"Please?"

"Nope. So comfy."

"Revy," he insisted, shaking her a bit harder.

"Ugh, fine, I'm awake! Where's the fire? Do I need to shoot some motherfucker?"

"Nothing so drastic," he chuckled. "Dutch wants to talk to me about a job or something."

She sat upright, yawned and scratched her head. "Gimme a smoke."

He gladly obliged her and watched as she lit up, puffed out some smoke, yawned again and, without bothering to retrieve her boots, got up and padded towards the bathroom, yawning and scratching her butt over her denim shorts all the way there.

-o-

The place allocated to the Romanian assassin team didn't look like much from the outside, but inside it was a different story. It was a three-bedroom apartment, luxuriously furnished and – more importantly – air conditioned. The three Europeans were finding the heat and humidity of Thailand to be rather hard to get used to. For the moment, the oldest of the three was reading a newspaper in the living room, while Gretel was in the shower and Hansel was in his room checking his weapons. A knock on the door made him look up.

"Come in," he said.

Gretel, already dressed but still drying her hair with a towel, walked in and saw her brother sitting at his desk, his two Smith & Wesson Model 642 Airweight revolvers in front of him. "Any news?" She sounded uncharacteristically subdued.

He picked up on her mood immediately. "Not yet," he told her. "This is not like the Master, taking us for a job without being fully briefed first. I have a bad feeling about this."

"Me too," she said. "I only hope we'll make it out of this alive, fratele meu."

"I think it's the damned heat, sora mea, it makes us feel on edge," he half-lied, hoping to reassure his sister.

"You two, get ready," their master's voice boomed through the closed door. "It's getting dark and I want to be on time for the appointment with our client."

"I'm ready," Hansel replied.

"Me too," added Gretel. She ran to her room to pick up a couple more things. The Impaler was in the hallway, smoking. She stopped next to him. "Shall we take our weapons?"

"No need," he replied nonchalantly. "This is just a briefing. You two will get the chance to use your weapons later. Don't forget, this is a job and we need to do it well." He glanced at Hansel, who was poking his head out the door of his room. "Same goes for you, boy."

"Yes sir."

"Good." Out of habit, he patted the CZ 75 pistol he carried in a shoulder holster. "Meet me at the car in two minutes," he said and went out the front door.


	3. Chapter 3

The Impaler parked the car in a convenient spot near a hotel that looked to be in somewhat better shape than the neighboring buildings. He and the twins exited the car and walked huddled under a large umbrella to a side street following the directions written down on a map of Roanapur. The Italian flag adorning the front of a restaurant marked their destination. A man in a crisp suit was sitting at a small table under an awning outside and looked up as the three approached.

"Buonasera," he said, one hand reaching for a lupara – a Sicilian sawed-off double barreled shotgun – under the table, just in case. "Bienvenuto a Tritera."

"Good evening."

"Do you have a reservation?"

"Yes," replied the Impaler. "I've made a reservation for three under Anton." This was one of his many aliases.

"Si, Signore Anton," said the Italian, after checking the reservations list. "Your table is ready. It's number eleven, the last one to your left."

"Thank you. Come on, kids." They entered the restaurant, which operated like a normal business in addition to being used as a place for the Mafiosi to make their shady dealings. Their table was towards the back and could not be seen from the street, even with the window shutters open. A blond man was already sitting there.

"Good evening Mr. Verrocchio," said the Impaler. "I am Anton." The other man rose and offered his hand, which 'Anton' shook.

"Please take a seat." Verrocchio waited until everyone was seated before reclaiming his own seat. "May I suggest the spaghetti and meatballs before we get down to business?"

"By all means, Mr. Verrocchio." The Romanian knew it would be an insult to refuse the Mafioso's hospitality. The Sicilian clapped his hands and a waiter appeared. Speaking in Italian, he ordered for all of them and reminded the waiter to bring something non-alcoholic for the twins to drink. The adults were going to enjoy some excellent wine.

-o-

Meanwhile, refreshed from her earlier nap, Revy was cleaning her Cutlasses at the Lagoon Company offices. Dutch and Benny had taken the car and were on their way to pick up the spares they needed for the boat after getting a call from the dealer. Rock was working on the company books. "Hey, Rock," she called.

He looked up from the paperwork. "Yes, Revy?"

"Are you done over there?"

"Almost," he replied. "Is there something you want?"

She ran a brush back and forth inside the barrel of one of her guns and held it up to the light to check the results before replying while repeating the process. "First of all, I need something cold to drink."

"That's easy," he said, finishing the last sheet. He went to the fridge and got her a can of Budweiser. "Anything else?"

"Uh-huh. Load my spare mags for me, please." She nodded towards a stack of spare magazines and a few boxes of 9mm ammunition on the table in front of her. He sat down next to her and began doing as she'd asked.

"By the way, Dutch said something about going to the Flag later. Are you in, Revy?"

"Like you have to ask," she snorted. "Of course I'm in."

"How's your back?"

"It itches more than it hurts. The fucking dressing pulls, too."

"Well, I can change it for you later, if you want."

"It can wait," she huffed. "Let's leave it until just before we head out for drinks." With that, she went back to cleaning and reassembling her guns, while Rock continued filling her magazines.

-o-

The four people sitting around table eleven at the Tritera finished their dessert and the waiters cleared the dishes before leaving them alone to discuss business.

"Did Don Emilio tell you what we want you to do?" Verrocchio asked.

"All he told us is that we are to kill the heads of a couple of your rival organizations," replied the big Romanian. "He didn't go into details."

"It's up to me then. Well, one of them is some country bumpkin Russkie bitch and the other is a chink from Hong Kong." He paused and looked at the faces of the contractors in turn. "You see, until a few years ago, the most powerful organizations operating in this city were us, the Colombians and some locals and Chinese. The Colombians were mostly concerned with importing and distributing cocaine to their Far East clients. The locals and their Chinese partners were involved in gambling, prostitution, guns and people trafficking. We, on the other hand, were focused on distributing heroin from the Golden Triangle. The Chinese Triads acted as middlemen between us and the various warlords controlling the opium poppy fields and the heroin processing facilities. With the fall of the Iron Curtain, all hell broke loose. Them damned Russkies came in, wanting a piece of the action, while the Chinese got more ambitious as well. They caught us at a bad time, since we lacked the resources to counter their moves, especially since both Italy and the US were cracking down hard on us and our associates. As a result, we lost both territory and influence here. This is unacceptable. When you kill the people we want, their outfits will be sufficiently disorganized for us to reclaim what's rightfully ours. And I will be able to go back to New York with a promotion to boot."

"We have a common interest in succeeding," 'Anton' said. "However, I need specifics on the targets."

Verrocchio passed him a thin envelope. "You'll find their addresses and photographs in there."

The assassins' master browsed the contents of the envelope and looked up sharply. "That's it?"

"What else a master of the art like you would need?"

He took an instant dislike at the Italian's cavalier attitude towards such serious business. Even Hansel and Gretel, to whom he had passed the envelope, looked uncomfortable. With such ineptitude, it was no surprise that the Italian Mafia had been reduced to the role of a second-rate player in Roanapur. He decided to be polite, though. "Mr. Verrocchio, we are the best because we are careful and meticulous. I need a lot more than the information you have provided. I have to know the marks' routines, what protection they have and when they are most vulnerable. I also want to know about their people; how capable they are, how many they are and how heavily they are armed. Then, there is the question of getting as much intelligence as I can on their usual haunts, since it is most likely to hit them there, where they feel safe. When our plans have been made as foolproof as possible, we strike and strike hard. Not a second before."

Verrocchio narrowed his eyes, but said nothing.

"Looks like we will have to do all of the preliminary work ourselves," the Impaler said finally. "Of course, it means that both jobs will take much longer to complete."

The mobster weighed his options. His orders were clear. Since they were going to war against both the Russians and the Chinese Triad, he had to be absolutely sure of success. Otherwise, his prospects would be extremely dim. If his rivals didn't kill him, his bosses would make sure he joined the rest of the bodies at the bottom of the harbor wearing cement shoes. "Fine," he said dismissively. "Handle it any way you see fit, but don't wait until I'm old enough for a pension."

"Excellent. I see we understand each other now, Mr. Verrocchio. We'll start preparing tomorrow morning."

"Good." He passed his contractor a card. "If you need anything, call this number. Also, take these for your initial expenses." He handed over a couple of bundles of cash.

"Thank you. We'll talk again as soon as we have something concrete to report." Both men got up, followed by the twins. A round of handshakes later, the three were on the way back to their car.

-o-

The Yellow Flag was open for business despite the fact that some reconstruction work was still ongoing in the aftermath of its destruction during the epic fight between Roberta and the Manisarera cartel. Bao shot a dirty look at Revy as she ambled in with the rest of the Lagoon crew, but she ignored him as usual and took a seat at the bar. Rock, Dutch and Benny claimed the stools to her left. She held up two fingers and gestured between Rock and herself. Bao nodded and placed two glasses and a bottle of Bacardi in front of them.

"Just don't get smashed," Dutch told them as Bao slid a glass of whiskey over to him. "Rock's going to Balalaika's tomorrow morning and you will have some errands to run with Benny."

"Fuck, Dutch, can't you find someone else to go on your goddamn errands?"

"Sorry Revy, I'll be working on the boat all day and Benny will need someone to go with him."

"It still sucks majorly, especially with the shitty weather we're having," she grumbled and downed her glass of rum.

"Don't be so grumpy," Rock said after taking a sip from his own glass. She gave him a murderous glare and opened her mouth to tear a strip off of him, but he continued undaunted. "If it's still raining tomorrow, ignore it. Look at it as a day out in the town. Who knows, you may even find something you like. We got paid well for the last jobs, so just buy something nice while you're at it."

"Hrmph."

"And if Benny tells me you've been a good girl, I'll even buy you some ice cream."

The empty glass in her left hand slammed down on the countertop and her right hand twitched towards one of her holstered guns. "Rock, if you keep talking shit like this, I fucking swear I'll shoot you where it's gonna really hurt, pea-brain."

"Come on, Revy! Besides, didn't you promise to buy me some cotton candy back in the Philippines? I intend to hold you to that promise."

"Sometimes I wonder if Rock is a masochist or just plain suicidal," Benny whispered to Dutch. "It's like watching someone poke a tiger with a stick."

"Well, that's one way of putting it," Dutch whispered back. "He's still alive and in one piece though, isn't he?" Secretly, he was enjoying his employees' antics, as long as no one got hurt.

Revy was trying hard to keep the urge to really hurt Rock in check, so, instead of drawing her gun and shooting him or cracking his skull open, she just refilled her glass. Maybe the booze would help tune it all out. Shrugging, she took a nice long sip of rum.

-o-

The headquarters of the Bougainvillea Trade Company, the front for Hotel Moscow's operations, was located in one of the more affluent areas of the city. By coincidence, a four star hotel was located nearby. The twin assassins' master already knew about it when he drove down the street in a rental car – a red Toyota sedan and not the black Mercedes given to him by the Italians. He had the driver's side window rolled down a bit and a map in one hand, looking like any newcomer to the city trying to get to his intended destination. He parked in front of the hotel and walked in, after retrieving a briefcase and a suitcase from the trunk. The receptionist on duty looked at him as he went through the revolving door at the entrance and marked him as a businessman, judging by his lightweight summer suit and the high-end luggage he was carrying.

Even though he didn't have a reservation, the hotel did have rooms available, so he checked in under his Anton alias. His expertly forged Austrian passport had all the correct stamps and visas and didn't raise any red flags with the hotel staff. Even his accent had a Germanic ring to it. As a bellhop put it, Herr Anton sounded kind of like Arnold Schwarzenegger, albeit rather raspier. He was planning on using the room as a forward observation post, relaying information on the target to Hansel and Gretel either in person or over the phone. The twins were to stay at the apartment provided by the mobsters, unseen and unheard until the time came for them to execute their part of the mission. Not to mention that checking into the hotel with two children in tow might attract the wrong kind of attention to them.

Once in the room, he wasted no time setting up his gear. Since he wasn't far from the target, he simply set up a compact high power telescope on a short tripod, placing it on the small low table by the window, using the curtain to conceal it. The torrential rain didn't exactly help, but after a mere two hours of watching he knew that the Italians wanted to bite off more than they could chew. Still, a contract was a contract. He reached into a pocket of his discarded suit jacket, retrieved a Nokia cell phone and dialed a number from memory.

"Hello?" It was Hansel's voice that answered the call.

"It's me."

"Have you got news for us, sir?"

"Yes, and not of the good kind, either," he said. "I trust you can relay everything I'm going to tell you now to your sister, right?"

"Of course, sir. That goes without saying."

"Good. The mobsters' incompetence screwed us. These are not mere thugs we'll be going up against. From what I can see, most all of them are ex-military, well trained and disciplined."

"I agree; that complicates things, sir," said Hansel.

"For now, I'll stay here and try to find out more about their routines. We'll meet in person again tomorrow morning at nine o'clock sharp. You two sit tight at the meantime. Don't go out unless you absolutely have to, you understand?"

"Yes sir." Hansel hung up in time to see Gretel emerge from the kitchen.

"Dinner is ready, fratele meu," she announced. "Was it the Master on the phone?"

Hansel nodded. "Yes, sora mea, it was. I'll tell you everything over dinner."

"He didn't have good news for us, did he?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "Looks like we were right to be worried after all. This is going to get ugly." He followed his sister to the kitchen and relayed what their master had told him over a light dinner. When their talk ended, each of them secretly entertained the thought of cutting and running now that they were all alone, but in the end good sense prevailed. They had no money, their master had their (fake) passports with him, they didn't know the city and finally they didn't have an escape route prepared. If they tried and failed, their punishment would be severe to say the least.

-o-

Surprisingly, Revy had decided to follow Rock's advice for once. The rain had stopped some time before dawn and the errands Dutch had had her and Benny run hadn't taken that much time, so she left the blond man at the office and took off on her own, aimlessly wandering around the city. As she did, something in the window of a small shop caught her eye. She went in and emerged a few minutes later, carrying a bag with a few carefully wrapped packages inside. Rock had been right. She was feeling better. Pausing to light a cigarette, she looked around, shrugged dismissively and turned in the direction of the office.

Meanwhile, Rock was elbow-deep in paperwork. He and Balalaika were going through each document carefully, taking just one break for some strong Russian tea and warm blintzes – bliny with jam or fruit filling. As they worked, he found the Russian woman to be a demanding, yet considerate, respectful and generous boss, a lot like Dutch in many respects. These two were nothing like the bosses he had suffered under while working for Asahi Industries back in Japan. No, he didn't miss his old life a bit. This was much better.


	4. Chapter 4

The smartly uniformed barista at the hotel's café bar listened sympathetically as Mr. Anton complained bitterly about being stuck in Roanapur with nothing to do due to an unforeseen delay that had cropped up in a deal the company he was working for had sent him to supervise. 'Anton' himself believed his performance to be worthy of an Academy Award. This should satisfy any curiosity on the hotel staff's part as to why he hadn't left his room during office hours over the past couple of days. In reality, he was observing the Hotel Moscow headquarters and planning his assassins' attack. He finished his cappuccino, tipped the barista, also apologizing for having bored the man with his griping and headed up to his room. Reviewing his notes, he concluded that it was going to be difficult, but not impossible, even with the limited information at his disposal. After all, the Russians wouldn't be expecting children assassins. Hansel and Gretel's sweet, innocent appearance would be enough to get them in and their skills would take care of the rest. Sighing, he packed some papers and videotapes into his briefcase and headed out.

"Hold any messages for me, please," he told the receptionist with a smile.

The barista was bringing a tray full of coffee cups to some people sitting in the business lounge and noticed him. "You look pleased, Mr. Anton," he said.

"Yes, it appears that someone finally decided to do something about the whole mess. Good thing too, I was getting bored silly. See you later." With a nonchalant wave, he went out the door and on to his car. It was time to brief the twins.

-o-

Ever since joining the Lagoon Trading Company, Rock had become something of a jack of many trades; from taking care of the books and paperwork to negotiating contracts to providing his services as a translator both to Lagoon and other organizations to running various errands to being… Revy's semi-official caretaker and wakeup service. This morning, he was performing both these latter tasks as he tentatively knocked on her door, more as a matter of courtesy rather than actually expecting a reply, which never came, as usual. He opened it and paused at the threshold. The room was in its standard state of disorder. Sure, she cleaned it from time to time, only for it to get as cluttered as before in a matter of hours. As for its occupant, she was in bed, lying on her right side, still deep in sleep. The sheets had been kicked to the foot of the bed, exposing the fiery gunslinger's shapely and scantily clad body.

Rock allowed himself a small smile and placed a couple of packages on the table before kneeling on the bed to open the blinds one handed, his other hand gently shaking the sleeping woman. "Get up, Revy."

"Fuck off, Rock," she rasped, her voice heavy with sleep. At least she wasn't hung over. A hand came up to brush his tie off of her, as it was tickling her shoulder, cheek and clavicle. She turned, trying to avoid the bright morning light now flooding the room.

"Dutch wants you down at the dock, ASAP."

She groaned and pushed herself to a sitting position. "Dammit. We got a new job?"

"Yeah," he replied. "He and Benny finished working on the boat last night and Ms. Balalaika called fifteen minutes ago." He sat down on the bed with her and, before she had a chance to reach for the pack of cigarettes and the lighter she'd left next to the TV, he handed her the packages he'd brought.

"What the fuck is this?" Revy asked, rubbing the cobwebs from her eyes.

"Chocolate milk and a bagel omelet sandwich with extra ham and tomato. Dutch also told me to feed you." Not that their boss actually needed to tell him. But otherwise her breakfast would consist of a cigarette, a beer and cold pizza – if she happened to have any left over from the previous day, otherwise it would be potato chips or cheese puffs. She never seemed to run out of these.

"What happened to the iced coffee you usually get me?"

"They were all out," he shrugged. "It's rather late, even by your standards." It was true; the iced coffee bottles sold out rather quickly every morning.

"Ugh." She rubbed her temples and then opened the plastic bottle of chocolate milk and took a greedy gulp. "Hey, this is good stuff."

He chuckled. "I somehow knew you'd like it." Truth be told, it didn't take Mensa intelligence to figure this out. Chocolate, in any form, was one of Revy's weaknesses right next to booze, pizza and cigarettes. And guns, naturally.

"Did Dutch give you any specifics on the job?"

"Actually, it's rather simple: Meet up with the Maria Zeleska and take a package for delivery to Balalaika's people. Normally, the ship would simply dock here, but apparently they have an express delivery to make elsewhere and can't spare the time for a detour. A truck will be waiting at the dock to pick up the shipment."

While Rock was talking, Revy was devouring her sandwich and nodding. He was right. It had the hallmarks of an easy job – a ship to ship transfer with no one shooting at them. It wasn't a pirate job, either, as the Maria Zeleska was a Russian-flagged freighter owned by the Bougainvillea Trade Company. And if someone were to be so stupid as to try and hijack the cargo, well, that's what she and a bunch of armed Ivans would be there for. She finished her sandwich, washing it down with the rest of her chocolate milk and threw the wrapper and the bottle into an empty pizza box. "What about you, Rocky?"

"Me? I'll be at Balalaika's. We still have a shitload of paperwork to go through."

-o-

Despite their master's optimism, Hansel and Gretel grew more apprehensive every time they watched the videos he had recorded. They didn't show it though. To him, they appeared to be concentrating on the job at hand, working on a plan of attack. Gretel picked up the remote and rewound the tape before freezing it on a frame. The camera had captured the image of a tall blond woman in a burgundy business suit behind the French windows leading to a big balcony on the top floor of the building. "That's her," said the girl simply.

"All right, now we know where we can find her," said Hansel, making notes on a sketch pad. His tone was flat, borderline glum.

"What do you think?" Anton asked.

The two shared a look and nodded to each other before the boy spoke up. "I think our best chance is to take out those on duty at the front desk before they get the chance to sound the alarm and then head up to the office as fast as possible."

"Once the mark is eliminated, let's assume rather noisily, we can rappel down from the balcony while her men are converging on the office, kill or avoid anyone still outside and get away fast," added Gretel.

"Given how little we have to work with, it's the best option," concluded Hansel. "A better plan would be to find a way to lure her out of there and into the open, but the client has not provided any information on other Hotel Moscow facilities we can strike at first, plus it would put them on the alert, which is a drawback."

The Master weighed the pros and cons. He could ask the Sicilians for more intel, but given their incompetence he wasn't sure it could work. "We'll go with your first plan and I'll be your getaway driver," he decided. "I'm going to take a leak and then I'll take you two to see the place for yourselves… from the outside at least."

"This is crazy," Gretel whispered to her brother once they were alone in the room.

"Going in there is suicide, all right," he agreed. "The men guarding the place remind me of the elite mountain troops at the base where we learned mountaineering. They are soldiers, just like the Master said."

"I wish we didn't have to do this."

"Me too. Shhh, he's coming back."

"Let's go," the man told the children. Obediently, Hansel picked up his coat and Gretel short long-sleeved her jacket before following him to the Mercedes parked outside. Hansel also had his revolvers on him, while Gretel opted not to take her favorite weapon, settling instead for a Walther PPK pistol fitted with a silencer and a Thompson M1928A1 submachine gun, the latter concealed inside a violin case.

They took the Mercedes. It had tinted windows, so it was perfect for a covert reconnaissance run. It was also rush hour in Roanapur, which suited them perfectly. The traffic moved at what seemed to be a glacial pace outside the Bougainvillea Trade Company offices, allowing the two young assassins a long uninterrupted time for watching the building. This time, they could see what the camera had failed to capture from the angle it had been set up: the lobby and the front desk. Hansel also noticed the elevators and a stairwell and made a note of their location. Gretel was trying to see how many people were on duty on the ground floor. She could see at least one man at the front desk and one guard. Sneaking past them appeared to be next to impossible. They were going to have to fight their way to the elevator, using guile, deception, speed and silent killing methods.

Finally, the car went past the building. The master drove it to the next intersection and turned right, his intention being to double back and make another pass, using secondary streets and alleys to avoid the worst of the traffic. But as just after he took another turn into a narrow street, he suddenly felt an intense pain in his chest. It became hard to breathe and a strangled gasp escaped his lips as he clutched at his chest. The kids were too busy watching their surroundings to notice. He slowed the car and clawed at his tie. He tried to cry for help, but only an almost inaudible croak came out. A second later the engine stalled as his feet slipped off the pedals, the car stopped and he slumped over the wheel, still held mostly upright by his fastened seatbelt. Only then did Hansel and Gretel look forward.

"Master?" Hansel asked. No reply came.

"What's wrong?" Gretel asked. She was sitting on the left side of the back seat and had no direct view of the man.

"I don't know," replied her brother. "Master?" He hesitantly shook the man. "Something is wrong." He climbed over the center console into the passenger seat and his mouth dropped open when he took in the scene. The man's face was flushed red, with cyanosis evident around the eyes and the nose, contorted into a grimace of pure anguish, drool dripping from his parted lips and his eyes open but glazed over and unseeing. The boy felt for a pulse and found none. "He's dead!"

"What? How?"

"He must have had a heart attack, sora mea."

It took a few seconds for the situation to fully register. "Fratele meu, do you know what this means? We are free!"

"Yes," he exclaimed. "We are!" Thinking impulsively, he decided on a course of action. "Help me move him. We need to go back to the apartment and pick up our things."

Grunting and heaving, the two children moved the corpse to the passenger seat and buckled it up. Hansel took the wheel. They had both learned to drive as part of their training, so it was no problem for them. Gretel had a map of the city open and used it to navigate for her brother. Less than half an hour later, they were in an alley next to the fire escape of the building they were staying in. Not a soul could be seen around. Gretel ran to the apartment, opened the window leading to the fire escape and rejoined Hansel in the alley. Together, they carried the dead man into the apartment. After a brief discussion, they decided to hide the body in the freezer. This way, they would be far away before it was even discovered. As a final touch, Hansel drove the car into the street and parked it in front of the building. He then casually made his way up and went to his room to pack.

The regimented life they'd led so far had conditioned them to pack quickly when changing location. In a few minutes their bags were packed, lined up by the door and they had also retrieved their dead master's briefcase, laptop, cell phone, wallet, gun and keys. All in all, they were ready to skedaddle out of there… until Hansel thought of something and stopped cold.

The girl noticed it. "Is there something wrong, fratele meu?"

"Yes," he nodded. "In all the excitement, we forgot to come up with a plan for getting out of here."

It dawned on her too. Her initial enthusiasm vanished, to be replaced by gloom. She marched haltingly over to the couch and plopped down heavily on the overstuffed cushions. "The master was the one who made our travel arrangements all the time," she huffed.

"We have our passports, but since we came on a private jet we have no plane tickets… and we don't know how to buy them."

"I don't think anyone in their right mind is going to sell tickets to us, not without an adult making the necessary arrangements. I think we can safely say we're stuck here."

"Sora mea, there must be someone in this city we can turn to."

"No!" Gretel cried. "I mean, who can we go to? Verrocchio? He'll insist on us completing the job and then he'll just want to use us for more jobs. It'll be no different than what we already know. We don't know any other players."

"That's it!" Hansel exclaimed. Gretel's rant had given him an idea. "Come to think of it, we know two more players! The people Verrocchio wanted us to kill, Balalaika and Chang!"

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," said the girl. "Still, can we trust them?"

"No matter what we decide, we're going to have to make it quick. Verrocchio will suspect something when the master doesn't report in."

"Besides, while we have some money, it won't be long before it runs out and then what are we going to do? I agree with you, Hansel. We should go to Verrocchio's rivals."

"Good thing we have all the documents the master had. We can try and trade them and whatever information we've got for our freedom… Quid pro quo, like he always said."

"The question is, who are we going to turn to?"

"Her," he replied, pointing to the TV, where the video was frozen on the image of Balalaika just as they had left it before going on the now aborted recce trip. "After all, we know exactly where to find her."

Gretel nodded. "So, we take the car, go to this Bougainvillea Trade Company and ask to see her?"

"More or less," said Hansel, shrugging his shoulders. "It's not like we can come up with something better."

Just then Gretel had an idea. "Hold on! We can't go in there armed! If we want to convince them of our intentions we must not pose a threat."

Hansel pondered it and decided she was right. He opened a duffel bag and placed his axes inside. Gretel cleared her own guns, placing the PPK together with her brother's weapons, replacing the Thompson in its case and rewrapping the BAR in its blanket after removing the magazine.

"Keep your pistol, just in case, sora mea. I'll also keep my revolvers and their speedloaders until we leave the car. This is a dangerous place."

"You are right, fratele meu." The PPK went back into the holster sewn on the inside lining of her jacket.

By that time, the traffic in the city had thinned considerably, so they made good time to their destination, a narrow street a block away from the Hotel Moscow base. Hansel found a convenient spot to park the Mercedes and they exited the car, the boy carrying a backpack containing the deceased man's laptop and all the documents they had, plus the duffel bag with their weapons, while Gretel carried her wrapped BAR and the travel bag with its twenty round magazines inside. Incidentally, said bag also contained various snacks she and her brother had acquired covertly – and had forgotten to take out.

Hansel held the door open for his sister to enter and followed her inside. The man on duty at the front desk looked up and saw two kids dressed in dark conservative clothing enter. This in itself was unusual in the city, but he surmised they must be students at a private school. "Hello there," he said affably. "Are you two lost?" It was the first thing that had popped up in his mind. "Do you need directions? Would you like me to call your parents, or your school, or maybe a cab?"

The boy cleared his throat and spoke. "Uh, no, sir, thank you. We are not lost. I know we don't have an appointment or anything, but we must speak with Ms. Vladilena Vasilinova." This was the alias Balalaika used as CEO of the Bougainvillea Trade Company. The twins had seen it on a business card included in the information package given to them by the Italians.

"In other words, Ms. Balalaika," added Gretel.

Upon hearing his boss' _nom de guerre_ , the Russian tensed immediately. "Really?"

"Please sir, it is a matter of life and death," Gretel begged.

"Life and death, you say… for whom?"

"Both for her and for us, sir." The reply came from Hansel. "We have come to warn her of a plot against her life."

The man unobtrusively moved his hand and pressed two buttons on his desk in sequence. "Is that so?"

"Yes, and we have brought proof," replied Hansel. Moving back so that the man could clearly see his every move, he opened the duffel bag and took out his revolvers, already emptied and with the cylinders in the open position. He held them by the barrels and placed them carefully on the front desk. "This is part of the proof, sir."

Another hidden button was pushed twice and immediately six heavily armed Russians appeared from a nearby room, surrounding the two children, weapons held at the ready. The guard just inside the door also increased his vigilance. For the first time in their young lives the two became very afraid. One wrong move, one wrong word and they would definitely die. Gretel lowered her bag to the floor and reached for her brother's hand. He took it and gave it what he hoped to be a reassuring squeeze. He motioned with his eyes towards the wrapped automatic rifle. The girl took the hint and delicately placed it on the floor next to her bag, before both kids took a couple of steps back.

"What's in your backpack, boy?" The question came from one of the new arrivals, obviously the team leader.

"A laptop computer and documents Ms. Balalaika is going to find very interesting, sir," replied Hansel. No matter what, he and his sister were going to be on their best behavior. Maybe this way they could score some more points in their favor. Slowly, he lowered the backpack from his shoulder and unzipped it, holding it open for the men to see its contents.

"Put it on the floor and take another two steps back," the man ordered them. "Mikhail," he addressed another man. "Check them."

Mikhail moved forward and checked the twins with a metal detector wand. The only metal it detected was from Hansel's belt buckles. The vest with the sewn-on revolver holsters the boy usually wore was in the duffel bag. "They are clean," he reported. He also opened the girl's bag and unfolded the checkered blanket, letting out a long low whistle when he saw the magazines and the weapon they were for. "They have quite an arsenal here."

"Call it in," the team leader instructed the man at the front desk.

Upstairs, in Balalaika's office, the phone rang. Looking up from the paperwork she'd been working on together with Rock and her second-in-command Boris, she picked it up. "Da?"

"Comrade Kapitan, this is Private Sakharov at the front desk. We have a situation. Two children of about twelve years old came in and asked to see you. They say they have information about a hit someone ordered on you. They brought weapons and documents to prove it." The man spoke in Russian and kept his voice low so that the twins couldn't hear the conversation.

"Really? Well then, Private, send them up. Activate security protocol number three."

"Problem, Kapitan?" Boris asked.

"We'll see," she replied. "Turn on the security feed for the elevator." She and her Sergeant moved to watch the screen. Rock held back, but from his spot also had a view of the screen.

Downstairs, Hansel and Gretel were escorted to the elevator and told to get off on the top floor and nowhere else. The security detail there had already been alerted to expect them. Another two men took a different elevator to bring the twins' documents and weapons to their boss.

The Twins were still holding hands as the elevator car started going up. "I'm scared, fratele meu," she said in Romanian.

"We made it so far, sora mea," he tried to calm her down.

"Aren't you scared?"

"I am. We have never been in this kind of situation before. Hopefully, she'll understand and hear us out."

In the office, Balalaika, Boris and Rock were watching and listening. "What language are they speaking?" Balalaika wondered aloud.

"It's a Romanic language, Italic branch," Rock offered from behind her. "I seem to recall someone from the European Branch at my old job teaching me something like that, but off the top of my head I really couldn't say." Just then, a thought came to him. He recalled Revy reading a movie magazine at the office. There was something about a special on Dracula movies on the cover. "Vampire," he gasped.

"What did you say? What do you mean by that?" Balalaika demanded.

"Those words… they have something to do with Vampires! It's Romanian! These kids are from Romania!"

"Count Dracula's homeland, interesting. Thank you, Rock."

"Of course they are!" Boris exclaimed, slapping a hand on his forehead. "There were Moldovan soldiers in Kabul. Most of them were bilingual and spoke both Russian and Romanian. Damn, I thought some of their words sounded familiar. I should have known."

"As people get older, remembering things becomes quite the task, Sergeant," Balalaika said soothingly. "It's the same with me."

Just then, there was a knock on the door and upon receiving permission two men entered and put the kids' stuff down on the floor by the massive desk. "Do you wish us to stay, Kapitan?"

"That won't be necessary, Private. The Sergeant and I can handle it from here. Send the children in. Dismissed."

"Yes, Kapitan." The two men left. One held the door open for Hansel and Gretel to enter, then closing it behind them.

The two stood nervously before the tall woman. Her expression was neutral and completely inscrutable, which added to their nervousness. A scarred man stood next to her, also wearing a poker face. The Asian man standing a bit off to the side looked confused and curious.

"Well then, I am Balalaika," the woman said, introducing herself. "You wanted to see me. So, what brings you two to my door?"


	5. Chapter 5

Nice to see you're still enjoying this. Here goes:

* * *

Hansel took a step forward. "Allow us to introduce ourselves first, ma'am," he said respectfully. "My name is Hansel and this is my twin sister Gretel."

"You're a polite young man. I like that," said Balalaika. "Go on."

"As you have already been told, we have come to warn you of a plot against your life. We are willing to tell you everything we know about it and the persons behind it."

"I see… are you also willing to answer any questions I have?"

"Provided we know the answers, yes, we are, ma'am."

"Fair enough," she conceded. "Let's start with the most important question: When is it going to go down?"

"It was supposed to take place sometime in the next few days."

Balalaika missed nothing. And the boy's answer raised more questions. "Was?"

The kid shuffled uneasily under her piercing stare. Slightly behind him, the girl was also looking more nervous. Finally, he took a deep breath and answered the question. "I believe we can safely say that the original plan for your assassination has been effectively scrapped, Ms. Balalaika."

She reached into a box on her desk, took out a cigar, clipped the end and lit up. "Do explain, please," she requested, blowing a cloud of fragrant smoke towards the ceiling. "Although, I expect it has something to do with you two acquiring the documents and weapons you've brought here, am I right?"

"Well, yes, plus… There's no use beating around the bush, I suppose. We might as well tell you. My sister and I were supposed to be the ones to kill you."

The adults in the room did a classic double take. "Come again?" Balalaika asked. "You? But you're just children!"

"That's true," Hansel admitted. "But we've also been doing contract hits in Europe for years."

"Such as…" she prodded.

"Have you heard of Campini, the mobster in Naples?" Hansel waited until she nodded in the affirmative. "We killed him."

Balalaika was positively stunned. "If you killed Campini, then you were the ones who killed…"

"A prosecutor who was investigating Camorra activities a couple of days later," Hansel supplied. "However, our first job was a hit on an Albanian mob boss in Tirana."

"You two are the famous, or should I say notorious, Vampires?" Balalaika gasped, her voice going up an octave or two.

Both children nodded. "You weren't expecting that, I gather?" Gretel said with a nervous, guilty smile.

"Hell no… but your reputation has made it all the way here. Well, I suppose I should be flattered in a way."

"Kapitan, what are you talking about?" Boris asked.

"Whoever wants me dead went to the trouble of hiring the Vampires to do it. Difficult, high profile hits are their specialty. They tend to be rather messy though."

"I assure you, ma'am, we don't like messy," said Hansel. "It's not how we've been trained. We prefer to do a clean and quick job. On the other hand, our clients seemed to prefer the intimidation value of a bloody hit."

"Did you just say you were trained for this?" Rock spoke for the first time since the two underage assassins walked in, looking from the boy to the girl and back again. "How…?"

"This is the only life we have known," Gretel admitted. "Ever since we were little we have been training for assassinations and spying operations."

"The documents we've brought with us should provide more information," added Hansel.

Balalaika and Rock immediately grabbed a sheaf of papers from the backpack and pored over them, while Boris kept a vigilant eye on the twins, his hand resting on the grip of his sidearm. "Most of the documents that can give us a clue are in Romanian," Rock whispered to the Russian woman.

She paused to think for a second. "Corporal Menshov is from Tiraspol… he might be bilingual. If so, I'll have him translate these for me." She pressed the intercom button and spoke in Russian, asking for the man to come to her office. She then turned to the children. "Please take a seat," she said, motioning towards the couch. "This may take a while."

"Thank you," they said politely and sat down, keeping their backs straight and their hands in their laps.

"By the way, have you read those documents?"

Both children shook their heads no. "We just picked them up and brought them here," said Gretel.

Menshov soon arrived and to Balalaika's relief he did speak Romanian. He and Rock flanked the woman as she sat down behind her desk and the Corporal quickly leafed through the papers picking out the most important ones and telling his boss what they were about. She was nodding and taking notes on a pad of legal notepaper. "Thank you Corporal," she said eventually. "Take the rest with you and translate them. Get anyone you want to help type them up. I expect the translations on my desk in a few hours. You are excused from any other duty."

"Da, Tovarisch Kapitan."

"Get on with it," she said. Menshov saluted and left. "Well now," she told Hansel and Gretel. "The picture is somewhat clearer. A lot of information is missing or has been redacted, however. So, I want you to tell me everything about you."

For the next hour or so, she, Boris and Rock listened patiently as the kids went on to describe their training, the various facilities they'd visited to learn and hone their skills, as well as the hits they'd performed for various clients, ending with the job in Marseilles. Early on, Balalaika had gotten up from her office chair and sat down in an armchair in front of them, the other two men standing behind her. She kept encouraging them to continue by nodding and occasionally asking questions relevant to their story. By the time they were done narrating their lives, her face was expressionless, but her eyes betrayed the whirlwind of emotions going through her mind. Rock was just standing there, slack-jawed in shock, while Boris had a thoughtful frown on his scarred face.

-o-

Benny was on the Black Lagoon's afterdeck using a handheld radio to guide the Maria Zeleska's crane operator as he lowered the first cargo pallet onto the smaller vessel. Dutch was in the bridge keeping the boat steady. As for Revy, she was casually sitting in the forward gun tub of the torpedo boat, idly smoking a cigarette and enjoying a cold beer. Since the Russian crew was keeping an eye out for trouble – plus the greater height of the cargo ship's mast offered more radar coverage – she could afford to relax for the moment.

"Revy," Dutch told her over their communicators. "Once we've got all the pallets on board, help Benny tie them down and then we can be on the way home."

"Got it, Boss," she replied. "Benny, how many more pallets?"

"We've already got one. That leaves eleven more to go. We'll be done with all the loading in about forty minutes or so and then we can get underway."

"OK, Benny Boy. Just make sure you and Revy tie the cargo down securely. Once we get home, we'll go pick up Rock and our pay from Balalaika's and head for the Yellow Flag."

"Now you're talking!" Revy cackled gleefully.

-o-

Boris had just offered the kids some water to drink, which they accepted gratefully. Their throats felt parched from all the talking. The intermission also gave Balalaika time to think. The story she'd just heard was incredible, almost impossible to believe, yet the details were spot on. "You've convinced me," she told the twins. "You are telling the truth. Now, however, I have an important question for you: Who hired you two to kill me?"

"We were hired in Europe by a Mafia boss we only knew as Don Emilio. He must be very high ranking, as he has ties to at least one Mafia family in America. He sent us here to help his godson Verrocchio," replied Hansel.

"That Sicilian schmuck wants me dead, huh?"

"Not just you, Ms. Balalaika," said Gretel. "He also wanted us to eliminate the leader of the Triad here in Roanapur, a Mr. Chang, after killing you."

"I see. In your story, you mentioned a handler, the man you call 'Master'. Where is he and what is he up to right now?"

"He's dead," Hansel replied without hesitation.

"You killed him too?"

"No," both said in unison. "He had a heart attack earlier today." Hansel was the one to add the last bit of information. "Right now, he's in the freezer in the apartment the Italians put us up in."

"We can give you the address," added Gretel. "He also posed as a businessman and took a room in the hotel nearby to observe your base. It was room 523. You'll find the keys to it and to his rental car, a red Toyota Corolla, in the backpack. My brother and I left the car the Italians gave us at this address. The Toyota is back at the apartment." She took a piece of paper with both addresses written down on it from a pocket and handed it over to Boris.

"The car we got from the Italians is a Mercedes," said Hansel. "I have the keys right here." Boris took them as well.

"Send teams to verify, Sergeant," ordered Balalaika. "While you're at it, call Sawyer the Cleaner to dispose of their handler's corpse."

"Yes, Kapitan." He picked up the office phone, calling an internal extension and relayed his boss' orders.

"This had better not be a trap," she warned Hansel and Gretel.

"It is not," insisted the girl. "We are telling you the truth."

She lit another cigar. "I hope so, for both your sakes. And now, for the last question; what do you want in exchange for the information you've brought me? Money?"

"Some money would be nice," replied Gretel. "But…"

"But?" Balalaika prodded.

Hansel took it up from there, seeing his sister about to tear up. "We just want a normal life, Ms. Balalaika. We didn't mention it before, but after we left Romania and started working we couldn't help but see what was going on around us while we were casing our targets. We saw how children our age live. They go to school, enjoy time with family and friends… have fun… We never had any of this. And we envied them, whishing we had the same."

"Is that so? Then why didn't you just kill your handler or leave him and run away? It would have been the easiest thing to do."

"The thought never occurred to them." Rock spoke softly, but every head in the room turned in his direction. "Even the most vicious trained attack dog will never turn on its master. I don't like the analogy, but I believe it's fitting. It's just the way they were conditioned. They had to obey and fear him for a very long time. Besides, even in that case, what were they supposed to do? From what I saw in the documents, their handler kept the money they earned for himself, giving them just peanuts. How can two children survive with no money and no one to turn to? I bet they didn't even think about going to the authorities for help."

"Well, since you put it that way… how very perceptive of you, Rock. And I agree with you," said Balalaika. She refocused her attention on the kids. "Just out of curiosity, how were you two planning to kill me?"

The twins immediately described the plan they had hatched, readily admitting that it was full of holes, but also that it was the best they had been able to come up with, given their pressing timetable and the limited information they had available. They also went on about how uneasy they'd felt over the whole deal, despite their handler's optimism.

"It's just as well things happened the way they did," Balalaika told them. "I won't go into details, but your fears were justified. Your plan was doomed to fail from the start. At the most, you'd have been able to take out one or two of my men before finding yourselves in a world of shit, as the Americans say."

"You have hidden security cameras," Hansel guessed.

"Whoever installed them did a great job, because we saw no sign of them on our recon," added Gretel.

"We are used to taking risks, but this was too much," admitted Hansel. He was the more calculating of the two. His sister tended to be a bit impulsive at times, but he preferred to plan his every move. "I like to think that I'd have found a way to abort the operation, even if the Master hadn't died."

"The bastard certainly didn't deserve your loyalty if he was going to send you off on a job with such a half-baked plan," commented Boris.

"He was using you," Rock piped up. "He deprived you of your childhood and became rich hiring your services out. I saw the bank statements. He'd amassed almost five million dollars and he gave you…" he paused to take a good look at a handwritten note on a printout. "…twenty dollars a week."

Balalaika went to her desk and stubbed her cigar out in the ashtray. "Twenty dollars a week each for risking everything is a joke."

"No, he gave them twenty dollars in total. Each got ten."

"Too bad he's dead," said Balalaika, her anger rising even more. "I'd have loved to get my hands on him." She stomped over to the armchair and sat heavily down, crossed her legs and rested her chin on a clenched fist, her elbow digging into the upholstered armrest. Her blue eyes were fixed to a point on the ceiling. It was quiet for a few seconds and then she spoke again. "Remember April of '86, Sergeant?"

"The child you saved in the refugee camp in Afghanistan, Kapitan?" Boris asked softly. He knew his Captain very well and could tell what was on her mind.

She sighed. "Yes." She then turned to face her loyal subordinate. "I left the service not long after that and never learned what became of him. The last I saw of the boy was when we dropped him off at a relocation facility. I hope he's all right. He was a Tajik, as I recall, so he may have made it to Tajikistan and found a new life there. At the very least I hope he made it to a safe place in Afghanistan, close to the border. I often think about him, Sergeant."

"Kapitan, are you thinking what I believe you are thinking?"

"These two remind me of him, Sergeant. If he's still around, he'd be about their age. I was in no position to do anything more back then, but it's different now. The Fates have sent them this way and, the original reason for them being here notwithstanding, I'll be damned if I don't do everything in my power to get them the help they need." She twisted around to look at the Japanese ex-businessman. "What do you think, Rock?"

"I think you are doing the right thing, Ms. Balalaika," he replied, astonished to see the ruthless woman having a softer side. "But then again, you knew what my reply was going to be, didn't you?"

"Yes, I kind of did," she replied with a chuckle. "After all, they've done nothing to cause any bad blood between us." She paused and her expression hardened. "Verrocchio on the other hand… he'll get what he deserves."

Just then, Gretel's occasional impulsiveness kicked in. "We could kill Verrocchio for you, Ms. Balalaika," she piped up. "He won't be suspecting anything if we go to see him and we'll do it for free. It's the least we can do for you."

Balalaika's expression softened again. She crouched in front of the girl and cupped her left cheek with her right hand. "Nyet, Malyutka (no, little one)," she said. "You came to me seeking your freedom and a normal life. Well, you can consider your normal life as having started the moment you stepped across my threshold. From now on, you can consider me to be your favorite aunt."

It took a moment for the softly spoken words and the reassuring physical contact to sink in, but when they did, tears welled up in Gretel's eyes. Then the girl launched herself forward, her slim arms enveloping Balalaika in a crushing hug. Sobs wracked her slender body as her tears soaked the older woman's blazer. Balalaika returned the hug with one arm and with the other motioned for Hansel to join in, which he did without hesitation, embracing both his sister and his new aunt.

"Thank you, Aunt Vladilena," he said, his voice thick with emotion.

"Sofiya," she corrected him. "My real name is Sofiya."

"Aunt Sofiya," said Gretel with a sniffle. "Thank you for everything."

"I should be thanking the two of you too," she smiled and kissed the tops of their heads. "So, I'd best get started." She first guided the children to sit down on the couch with her and then she turned to Rock. "The five million they've worked so hard for, I want you to put it in a trust fund for them. Can you do it?"

"I don't see any problem, especially with some help from your accounting department and maybe from Benny as well," he replied. "We can also arrange for them to receive a stipend from it."

"Let me worry about that. The details can wait. Come to think of it, we can also try to find if they have any family back in Romania." She turned to the twins. "Would you like me to do this? It could take some time, especially since a lot of the records are missing, such as place of birth, the orphanage you were sent to and so on, but I think it would do you good to reconnect with your folks."

"I'm not so sure," said Hansel. "They did abandon us…"

Rock took it from there. First, he reached into a desk drawer for a certain ubiquitous item: a box of tissues. He then sat down across from Hansel, Gretel and Balalaika, offered the tissues to the young girl and took a moment to gather his thoughts. "Years ago, in Romania, a certain dictator passed a law which made abortion illegal," he began. "His plan was to ensure a workforce for the future of the country. In reality, most were too poor to provide for their children. Many families had no choice but to put their kids in state-run orphanages. The secret police found uses for many of those orphans, including you two. Your parents may have even been told that you two died soon after arriving at the orphanage."

"I didn't think of it that way," Hansel mused aloud.

"Mr. Rock…" Gretel began, but he held up a hand and cut her off.

"Just Rock, Gretel. There's no need for formalities with me."

"Do you think that we can actually manage to live like normal people? Please be honest with us."

"OK. This is what I believe: The world is a place for you to find happiness. Blood and darkness are just a small part of it, even though they're all you've known for a long time. That's not all the world has to offer. You said it yourselves; you want a normal, happy life. That's a good start and you now have people willing to help you every step of the way. So yes, I think you'll manage to do it. Think positive and the rest will be easy."

Gretel smiled widely. "Thank you Rock."

He smiled back. "You are most welcome."

Balalaika looked up. "Boris, you know what has to be done about the business we had to interrupt. Take Rock to your office and get it over with. Also, check on Corporal Menshov and see how much he's progressed with the translations. Report back to me when you're finished. Oh, and when the rest of Lagoon arrive, send them here. We'll also have to call Chang and inform him of the situation, but that can wait."

"Yes, Kapitan," said Boris. He and Rock gathered the necessary papers and exited, leaving Balalaika and the Twins alone in the office.

-o-

His coworkers found Rock uncharacteristically subdued when they arrived to pick him up and get paid for the last job. Initially, they attributed it to fatigue, but soon changed their minds, as paperwork was second nature to the ex-salaryman. "Ms. Balalaika wants to see us," he told them before they had the chance to question him about his mood. Boris led the way and opened the door for them. The sight that greeted them was certainly not one they were expecting, well, except for Rock maybe. Balalaika was sitting in the middle of the couch with two pale blond-haired children in dark clothing sleeping on either side of her, their heads pillowed on her lap. The stress and the emotional roller coaster of their day had finally caught up with them while they and their new aunt were talking and they just conked out. Balalaika was idly smoking a cigar, blowing the smoke towards the ceiling and absentmindedly stroking Gretel's long tresses. When Dutch, Benny, Revy, Rock and Boris entered, she gently shook the children awake.

"I see we have a full house. I trust you had no trouble with the job?"

"Other than getting bored silly, it was nothing, sis," Revy said before Dutch could reply.

"Excellent. As I've said many times before, I admire smart work, people. Now, I have another job for you. But first, allow me to introduce Hansel and Gretel, my new nephew and niece. Kids, meet Dutch, Benny and Revy. They are Rock's boss and coworkers."

"Hello Miss, Gentlemen," the twins said politely, getting up from the couch.

"Something you want to tell us?" Dutch queried.

"Better be good, because we had plans for tonight," added Revy.

"All will be explained in good time. Sit down, please."

Dutch and Benny took the armchairs, Rock sat down next to Gretel on the couch and Revy plonked her butt down on the armrest next to Hansel. As they waited for Balalaika to speak, she noticed, out of the corner of her eye, the boy staring at her. "Hey kid, I know I've got a nice rack and all, but it's not polite to stare at a woman's boobs," she told him.

"Oh, excuse me, Ms. Revy. It was not my intention to offend you in any way. I was merely looking at your weapons. They're Berettas, aren't they?"

"My, my… you're a polite little brat. And you also know your guns. Would you like to see it?" At Hansel's shy nod, she drew one of her Cutlasses, ejected the mag, cleared the chamber and handed it over.

"It's a very nice weapon," he said, turning it over in his hands and reading the inscription engraved on the slide. "Sword Cutlass?"

"Yep. I had them customized by the best gunsmith here in Roanapur."

"The grip is a little banged up though," he remarked, as everyone else looked on, amused.

Revy laughed. "What else am I going to use to crack skulls open?" She turned to Balalaika. "Hey sis, I like this kid. He's your nephew, you said?"

"Enough playing, Two Hands. Hansel, give the gun back." She waited until the Cutlass was back in its holster. "Now, while you were away, something interesting happened." She proceeded to give the new arrivals a summary of the day's events, culminating with her decision to take the twins in. When she was done, she tried to gauge their reactions. Dutch was inscrutable as always, but Benny and Revy looked stunned. "And now, for the new job I've got for you… I want you to take Hansel and Gretel here on a pleasure cruise for a few days, until Chang and I are done dealing with Verrocchio. He can't know we're on to his little plot, so these two must not be seen around town for the next few days." She went to the safe, opened it and took some bundles of cash and gave one to Dutch. "Take the kids shopping for everything they are going to need, but only go to areas the Italians tend to avoid. This should also cover other expenses, such as fuel and provisions." She held up the fatter bundle. "And this is half your pay for the job. You'll get the other half when you get back. Oh, and before I forget, I have to pay you for today's job as well." Two more wads of cash made their way into Dutch's hands. "Any questions?"

"Not on my end," replied Dutch. "You certainly are most generous. We'll take the job."

"We have enough time to take Hansel and Gretel shopping," Rock piped up, looking at his watch. "Dutch?"

"I'll get the boat refueled and see to the provisions. Rock, you take the kids shopping with Revy and Benny. We'll meet back at the dock once you're done. We set sail as soon as you get there."

"I believe we've covered everything," said Balalaika. "Hansel, Gretel, I want you to listen to Dutch and the others and do as they say, okay?"

"Yes, Aunt Sofiya," the two replied in unison.

"I bet Revy won't be too glad to miss the shootout with the Sicilians though," remarked Benny.

Revy got to her feet, took Gretel's right hand in her left and rested her right on Hansel's shoulder. "This is way more important, Benny," she said with a wan smile. "Sis, don't worry about anything. We'll take care of them."

"Ms. Revy, if you and Aunt Sofiya are sisters, does that make you our aunt as well?" Gretel asked.

"Call me aunt again and I'll kick your scrawny little butts all the way into next week," Revy growled, but her smile took the sting out of the threat. "Come on people, we have work to do," she told the others.

* * *

And now, please allow me a few lines to reply to dethstar87's review: In this AU, the Twins are not batshit crazy, as you so eloquently put it, especially since they have been spared the abuse they had to go through in canon, except for some corporal punishment already mentioned in the previous chapter. They are pros. No hit team handler would keep psychotic assassins around and risk having them turn on him, like they did on Verrocchio in the anime. That said, they are bound to have problems; nightmares? Maybe a few. Somewhat stunted emotional development? Definitely. Psychological issues requiring professional assistance? Quite possibly. Prescription grade PTSD? Not impossible. But that's all.

P.S.: The scene with the Twins asleep on Balalaika was inspired by some fan art I found by chance. Just search for "vampire twins balalaika" on google images.


	6. Chapter 6

Before we begin, let me thank you again for your unwavering support, especially the guest reviewers, whom I can't thank directly via pm. Now, let's take a break from the more serious stuff and see what the gang will be up to while shopping in Roanapur.

* * *

"Dutch, whatcha got there?" Revy asked as she held the door of the car open for the kids to enter. It was already dark outside, but they had enough time for a shopping trip, just like Rock had said.

"Just their weapons," he replied, slamming the trunk lid shut. "Balalaika thought we might as well take them. Who knows, they could come in handy."

"I sure hope not," said Benny from behind the wheel.

"They will," said Revy as she went to sit in the back, together with Hansel and Gretel, who lay low, while Rock took the shotgun seat. "I definitely want to try that BAR out." Benny drove off as soon as Rock closed the door behind him. Dutch was going to order some supplies they were definitely going to need for the job at hand.

"Be my guest, Ms. Revy," Gretel piped up. "There's plenty of ammunition in my bag."

"That's your gun?" Revy was shocked. It was a big gun for a little girl.

"Yes," replied Gretel. "The Thompson too. Apparently our handler liked Bonnie and Clyde."

"Huh… I bet it was a chore to clean it though." The M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle had many small parts, plus it had to be carefully cleaned to avoid corrosion in the gas cylinder or fouling in the buffer mechanism.

"I'm used to it," she shrugged.

"Still, if I fire it, I'll be cleaning it. And cut the 'Miss' stuff. It makes me feel like a schoolteacher. You and your brother can call all of us by our first names."

"Okay… Revy."

"You know, Praiyachat could do wonders with that BAR. He's the gunsmith I mentioned earlier. Anyway, off the top of my head, he could fit a stainless steel gas cylinder, modify the buffer and rate reducer for easier field stripping and greater reliability, add plastic furniture... a new pistol grip from an FN FAL or a Minimi, maybe a quick-change barrel and even a belt feed module… a drum magazine would be nice, too…"

Gretel chuckled at the woman's enthusiasm. "It's not like I'm going to need it again, ever. Do with it what you want, Revy."

"Seriously?" It felt like Christmas had come early for the redheaded gunslinger. "Thanks, kid." She ruffled the girl's pale blond hair with a gloved hand and smiled. Rock was observing the interaction with interest. It was a hell of a lot different situation compared to how she'd behaved around Garcia Lovelace. But then again, they hadn't thrown any food or drink in her face. Still, his quick-tempered partner was a lot more open and affectionate towards the two children than he'd ever expected her to be.

"We're here," Benny announced a couple of minutes later, as he maneuvered the muscle car into a convenient parking spot. They were still in an upscale part of town, right between Hotel Moscow and Triad territories. Both organizations treated it as a neutral zone and it had the added advantage that the Sicilians never showed their faces around there.

Rock took charge as they all exited the car. "Revy, you take Gretel here. Benny and I will take Hansel."

"First stop is for clothes, I guess," she said.

"That's right. Buy comfortable clothes, swimsuits, towels…"

"Yeah, I know, Rock," she interrupted him. "I've gone shopping before, believe it or not."

"You're gonna need some stuff too, Rock," Benny pointed out.

"I guess… my usual outfits are not really suitable for a vacation. I guess Revy will finally get her wish."

"What wish are you talking about, Rock?" Revy asked.

"Well, the Hawaiian shirt you bought me; I'll finally get around to wearing it."

"Oh, hell no! You are definitely not going to wear that one! It's totally inappropriate to wear around kids!"

"Since when do you care?" Rock shot back.

"Since Balalaika is their, well, guardian, I guess. She did ask us to take proper care of them, didn't she? Just leave everything to me. I'll get you a nice Hawaiian shirt and, come to think of it, Hansel could use one too."

"Okay, Revy. I trust your judgment… and your taste." He smiled as he recalled her reaction back when he'd called the shirt she'd bought of him 'hideously ugly'. In fact he'd originally thought she'd gotten it for him as a gag gift and he'd been honestly surprised at her insistence that he wear it. He still kept it though.

"Good. You boys hit the men's section. Gretel and I will go to the women's. Shall we meet back here when we're done?"

"Sure," replied Rock.

A few minutes later, Revy and Gretel were prowling the aisles in the women's clothing section of the store, occasionally stopping to take a closer look at various items. The young girl was almost overwhelmed by the variety of the pieces of apparel available, but still Revy asked her for her opinion before picking up stuff for her to try on.

"Hello Revy, fancy seeing you here," someone said from behind them. The sound of bubblegum popping followed. The two turned as one to see a tall woman with long blond hair, an orange crop top and a green denim miniskirt looking at them from behind pink cat eye sunglasses. "And who's the little one?"

"Hey Eda," Revy greeted the other woman. "Gretel, this is Eda. Eda, meet Gretel, our newest client."

"Hi, Ms. Eda," the girl said with a small smile.

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Gretel. Two Hands, I never imagined you as a nanny."

"Pfft. For the money we're getting, I can be a regular Mary effin' Poppins."

"Well, I'll be fu-" Eda never got to finish the word, because Revy clamped a hand over her mouth to shut her up.

"Watch your language. Jeez! There's a kid here, you know!"

"I don't mind, Revy," said Gretel. "I've heard worse." A few years of working for criminals had led to her and her brother learning a lot of bad language in English, French and even in Italian, which had a degree of mutual intelligibility with their native Romanian.

"Still, it's a matter of principle. Like I said before, we promised to take good care of you and your brother."

"All right, I get it," said Eda. No offence, girlie, but even the worst thing Revy can get you will definitely be an improvement over what you have on right now." She smirked at Revy. "I have some free time, so I could help you two."

"Whatever," Revy shrugged. "The more the merrier, I guess."

Eda gleefully clapped her hands. "Let's do this! By the way, where's Romeo? I haven't seen him around for a while."

"Rock? He's with Benny and her brother over at the men's section."

"She has a brother? Is he cute?"

"Only you would stoop to robbing cradles, Eda," Revy chuckled. "They are twins."

"Oh." Eda was slightly disappointed. Had Gretel had an older brother, she'd have enjoyed needling Revy by flirting with the boy the same way she did with Rock. "We girls can still have our fun though, right?"

And so, for the next hour, Gretel kept going into the changing room and coming back out again, modeling various outfits for Revy and Eda, who were sitting next to each other and offering their opinions on them. Eventually, the girl ended up with enough new clothes and accessories for her vacation with the Lagoon Company. As they went to pay for the purchases, including the Hawaiian shirts Revy had promised to get for Rock and Hansel, Eda excused herself to return to the Rip-Off Church. They boys were already finished with their share of the shopping and were patiently waiting for the girls outside the store. All three shot to their feet at the sight of Gretel's radically changed appearance. Eda's input was evidenced by the red plastic Alice hair band and the sandals the girl was wearing. The rest of her outfit, namely the – rather modest – denim shorts and the blue tank top showed Revy's influence. The final piece, chosen by the girl herself, was a black and purple fanny pack. On the other hand, the change in Hansel was no less impressive. His new outfit consisted of medium grey cargo shorts, a dark blue t-shirt and sneakers. Standing next to each other, they looked just like normal kids.

The five then made a stop at an ice cream parlor. As they walked towards another shop, Revy spotted a familiar face heading their way. "Hey Chinglish, going shopping?"

"No, Twinkie, Boss Chang call and say he have job for me."

"Twinkie?" Gretel interrupted the conversation, looking at the two women in turn. "What's a Twinkie?"

"Chinglish?" Hansel asked, just as confused as his sister.

"My English not very good, because I am pure Taiwanese," Shenhua replied. "She is Twinkie, because she forgot Chinese heritage… yellow outside, white inside."

"I'm only half-Chinese anyway," shrugged Revy. "We may take cheap shots at each other, but we're both professionals and we've worked together well before."

"My name is Shenhua," the Taiwanese woman introduced herself. "You are Hansel and Gretel, correct?"

"Yes ma'am," they replied.

"Balalaika called Boss Chang and explained everything. He very angry at Italians, but he tell me to keep an eye on you."

"That's nice of the Boss Man, but there's nothing I can't handle, really," said Revy after finishing her ice cream.

"How the saying goes? Better safe than sorry? What you buy now?"

"Some stuff we'll need to entertain our guests," replied Rock.

"Oh. Don't forget sun block. They very pale, could get sunburn."

"I'll add it to the list. Thank you, Shenhua."

When they finally exited the store, they had bought, in addition to the sun block, swim goggles, masks and snorkels, swim fins, paddles and balls for beach tennis, super soakers, a volley ball and net, a soccer ball, beach mats, towels, an extra ice chest, a thermal water jug, a big collapsible cabana tent, comic books and even a hammock, the latter being Revy's idea. After stuffing their purchases into the car's trunk, they returned for bug spray, insect repellent candles, tiki torches, several packs of batteries of various sizes, a couple of floating air mattresses, plastic cutlery, paper plates and cups and even some disposable underwater cameras, as well as rolls of film and Polaroid film cartridges for Benny's cameras.

Much to the adults' amusement, the kids, especially Gretel, had turned out to be enthusiastic shoppers. Not bad for their first time. For the moment, having filled the Roadrunner's trunk to the brim, they were sitting on the rim of a fountain, enjoying hot dogs and sodas. Shenhua was also showing a very interested Hansel her cherished kukris, being discreet about it, of course.

However, it being Roanapur, something just had to go wrong. In this case, it happened when a certain Rowan "Jackpot" Pigeon, the owner of the GoofFest strip club, happened to walk by and notice Revy and Shenhua. And, as usual, he spoke without thinking. "Hello, my sweet Rebecca, and to you too, exotic Princess," he said, addressing the two women. "You know the offer for a good paying job in my joint is always open." He ignored the thoroughly displeased expressions he got in reply and plowed on. "You two would definitely be a hit and…" That was when he saw Gretel. "And what do we have here? You, girlie, can be a star…" He never finished the phrase. A hand grabbed him by the lapel of his gaudy jacket and hauled him close to an angrily snarling face – Rock's. His right fist was already drawn back and ready to smash the other man's face into pulp.

Rowan gulped, very much surprised by the normally mild-mannered man's reaction. What really scared him, though, was the sight of a Sword Cutlass aimed between his eyes, its twin pointed at his crotch… not to mention the sharp blade of a kukri a scant millimeter from his throat and the point of another almost touching the fabric of his pants over the family jewels.

"I'm only going to say this once, so make sure you get it, you sleazy scum sucker," Rock growled, his voice low and menacing. "The only business we ever want to have with you is delivering the booze you order and getting paid for it. Revy has made her position clear and I believe Shenhua's reply is the same. And if you want to keep the septic tank you call a head in its place, forget you ever saw this girl here and never breathe a word about the whole deal. Otherwise, Ms. Balalaika may have something to say about it, being her aunt and all. You got me, shit for brains?"

The mere mention of the Russian woman's name almost caused Rowan to lose control of his bladder and bowels. Not trusting his voice to work, he nodded eagerly.

"I'd love to blow your fucking head off, but we have a job to do and the client would not appreciate delays, not to mention my boss wouldn't like to have to go to Chief Watsup and post bail for the lot of us. Now, get the hell out of my sight," snarled Revy.

"What she said," added Shenhua. "Get lost before I cut you up like pig."

Rock let him go and he scarpered as fast as his legs could carry him. Rock and Revy turned to the kids and apologized for the language they had just used to drive their point home. They shrugged it off as unnecessary, but asked for an explanation regarding the incident. When they got it, Hansel went red with rage. "He was lucky I didn't know what he was talking about," he said, clenching and unclenching his fists. "I would have drowned him in the fountain without a second thought."

"Hey!" Gretel protested. "I might want a piece of him too!"

"As if I'd let you dirty your hands by touching him," he retorted, being every bit the protective brother.

Revy laughed at the scene she was witnessing. "Sorry to rain on your parade, kids, but if anyone is ever going to waste him, it's going to be either yours truly or your aunt. She hates his guts too, by the way. Now, finish your hot dogs and your sodas. We have to get going soon. Before I forget, you asked what a Twinkie is, Gretel. To answer your question, it's something delicious. We'll get some on the way to the boat."

"I follow you to the docks and make sure you OK," said Shenhua.

"Unnecessary, but much appreciated anyway," Rock said graciously.

"By the way, is your stoned Leprechaun of a chauffeur around?" Revy asked Shenhua.

"Leigarch? He relax in car not far from here."

"You better hope he's not too relaxed when you need him. I know you told me he can drive even when his mind's off to Mars, but can he do it in Roanapur's evening traffic?"

"Not worried about Leigarch. He got me here, didn't he?"

"I suppose so. Benny, get the car."

"Bollocks. Not that heartless bitch again," Leigarch grumbled in his rich Irish brogue when he pulled up behind the Roadrunner as instructed by Shenhua and saw Revy, who waved at him with a cheeky grin on her face. He flipped her off, only to get smacked upside the head by the Taiwanese woman. "Hey!"

"You do not do that in front of kids," she scolded him. Both she and her driver could plainly see Rock and Revy chuckle as they got in their car. The former also waved at the Irishman, but it was much friendlier than his partner's greeting.

As Benny drove with Rock sitting next to him, Revy appeared relaxed, even resting her feet on the back of the front seat, but in reality she was constantly scanning their surroundings for any threats. Hansel and Gretel were sitting next to her, the girl having copied her posture. Both were munching on the Twinkies she'd bought for them.

"It's kind of weird, you know," Benny told Rock. "It's kinda like having a miniature Revy as well as the genuine article."

Ever observant, Rock knew what his friend and associate was talking about. And he had an explanation for it. "Gretel grew up without a steady female presence in her life. She had no one to look up to. Now, she has Ms. Balalaika, who trusts Revy and thus Revy has earned Gretel's trust as well. Revy is also friends with Eda and respects Shenhua professionally. I'd say Gretel has imprinted on them like a baby duck." He had noticed that Gretel mimicked Balalaika's posture and mannerisms when deep in thought, copied some of Revy's actions, chewed and popped her bubblegum like Eda and even flipped her hair and performed some dainty actions like Shenhua did. In less than a day, she'd gone from zero to four female role models.

"Now that you mention it, yes, I believe she kind of has done exactly that. It's a good thing, if you ask me… as long as she doesn't pick up Revy's bad habits as well."

"You wanna die, Benny?" Revy queried casually from the back seat while lighting a cigarette.

"Not really," he replied as always and concentrated on driving. They had to stop at their places first in order to pack enough clothes and toiletries for a few days at sea.

-o-

Dutch heard the sound of the car's engine and stepped out on the landing. "Benny, park the car by the pier," he called. "I'll be right down."

"You got it, Dutch," replied Benny.

"Thanks for everything, Chinglish!" Revy yelled, hanging half out the window. "Thank the Big Boss for us, too! You and the Leprechaun take care!"

"Thank you, Twinkie! Kids, you have a good time! Bye Dumbass and Lagoon Company!" Shenhua yelled back. Leigarch pressed his foot down on the gas and off they went.

Benny drove around the building and parked a few yards from the Black Lagoon, which was tied at the pier.

Rock and Benny got out, followed by Revy and the Twins. Dutch joined them there. "How was your shopping trip?"

"Pretty much problem-free, Dutch. The ladies even ran into Eda and she helped with Gretel's shopping," replied Rock. "The only hiccup was Rowan. He happened to pass by and shot his mouth off, but Revy, Shenhua and I took care of it."

"What did he say this time? I know he's always offering Two-Hands a job at his place."

"He told Chinglish the same thing," commented Revy as she flicked the butt of her cigarette into the sea. "We gave him the cold shoulder, but then he got Gretel in his sights and that was completely unacceptable."

"Damn pervert," muttered Dutch. "You didn't do anything to attract Watsup's attention, did you? That said, I hope you scared him good and proper."

"When Rock mentioned Balalaika, Rowan looked like he was going to have a heart attack," Revy said with a chuckle. "As if my Cutlasses, Shenhua's kukris and Rock's fists weren't enough."

"Sounds like you had fun. Now, get to work. Benny, Rock, take the stuff you bought inside the Lagoon. Revy, show the kids around the boat."

"You got it. Follow me, kids."

"Wait! We need to figure out where to put them up," said Rock.

"Duh, that's a no-brainer," replied Revy. "Gretel is going to stay in my cabin." Even though she rarely used it, Revy had her own cabin aboard the Black Lagoon, namely the starboard officers' quarters, across from Benny's electronics room. "Hansel can stay with you guys in the forward crew quarters."

"That works for me," Rock agreed. "Let's get on with it."

"How can we help?" Hansel asked.

Dutch knelt in front of the Twins. "You are guests here, so you don't have to do anything. Just pay attention to everything Revy tells you, OK?"

"Yes, Captain!" Hansel said. "Permission to go aboard?"

"Permission granted. Off you go."

While Revy was giving Hansel and Gretel the grand tour of the old PT boat, Dutch disappeared down the engine room hatch to perform some final checks and Rock got to work moving stuff from the Roadrunner to the Lagoon. Some things were taken to the cabins, some to the small but well equipped galley, some to the comfortably furnished wardroom in the middle of the superstructure and the rest to the hold located forward of the engine room.

Once he was finished securing the last of the newly bought items in the hold, Rock went up on deck for a breather. Looking around, he noticed several 55 gallon drums on the quarterdeck, lashed securely against the aft torpedo tubes. Curious, he ambled to the open engine room hatch and peered down, seeing Dutch's back as he checked the number two engine's injector pump. "Hey Dutch, what's in those drums up here?"

"Fresh water," came the reply. "We'll need it to shower while we're out. I also got a collapsible screen and an outdoor shower rig with a pump."

"Never thought of that," Rock said, mightily impressed by his boss' forethought. "Smart move."

"Thanks. Get ready to cast us off when I start her up."

"Roger. I'll just go get my earpiece from the bridge."

"Give the others theirs as well, Rock. And stand by to get underway."

The three supercharged Packard marine engines roared to life one after the other when Dutch pressed the starter buttons. While Revy stood with the Twins in the open former bridge area, Rock cast off the stern line first, followed by the bow mooring line and stood by with a boat hook, just in case he needed to push the boat away from the pier. The boat moved slowly in reverse until it cleared the pier. Then, Dutch pointed the bows towards the harbor exit and advanced the throttles to slow ahead. Benny had his eyes glued to the radar screen and Rock and Revy also acted as lookouts, scanning the sea for small boats that might not be visible on the radar. When the Buddha statue was left half a mile astern, Dutch brought the throttles up to economical cruising power and the Black Lagoon quickly accelerated to a speed of over twenty knots, neatly cutting through the sea.

Hansel was standing with Rock by the number one torpedo tube, listening with rapt fascination as the Japanese man described how they had used torpedoes to shoot down the Extra Order attack helicopter chasing them back when he'd first met his new coworkers, prompted by the boy's questions about the quartet of steel tubes bolted to the deck. Gretel was with Revy, both sitting on the inside edge of the forward gun tub, their backs resting against the guard rails as they enjoyed the cooling effect of the breeze generated by the boat's speed. Revy fished her harmonica out of a pocket and began playing a tune. It was one the girl recognized and she couldn't help but sing along.

Fly me to the moon

Let me play among the stars

Let me see what spring is like

On a, Jupiter and Mars

In other words, hold my hand

In other words, baby, kiss me

Fill my heart with song

And let me sing for ever more

You are all I long for

All I worship and adore

In other words, please be true

In other words, I love you

Fill my heart with song

Let me sing for ever more

You are all I long for

All I worship and adore

In other words, please be true

In other words, in other words

I love you

"Bravo!" Dutch called from his position at the controls. The little ex-devil had the voice of an angel. He could hear Gretel sing even above the noise of the engines, as the gun tub led directly down into the cockpit. Rock and Hansel also applauded enthusiastically. From his workstation, Benny whistled loudly, having heard the performance through the intercom. She stood on a step set into the inside wall of the tub, braced herself with a hand on the rail and bowed deeply to her audience.

"You've got a great voice, kid," commented Revy. "Where did you learn the words?"

"I heard it on TV. It's one of my favorite songs of all time," replied Gretel. "My brother and I always tried to find pleasant things to watch every time our handler left us alone. Not counting my brother, you are the first people I ever sang to."

"My sister loves to sing," Hansel added proudly.

"And now she can do it to her heart's content," said Rock. "Well, it's getting late and we have a few days of fun ahead of us. Do you kids want to watch some TV in the wardroom before going to bed?"

"Sure," they replied in unison.

"Follow me, then."


	7. Chapter 7

Hello again, everyone! The way the site was acting up last week, it's a minor miracle I was able to post the previous chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. I'd also like to thank all those who included this story in their favorites and alerts.

* * *

Rock hummed quietly to himself as he made his way up to the cockpit, an unlit cigarette in his mouth and a six-pack of cold beer in his left hand. The only light came from the illuminated dials and the radar repeater screen on the instrument panel. The boat's captain was in his seat, alternating between looking out the windows and at the radar screen.

"Everything OK down there, Rock?"

"Everything's fine, Dutch," replied Rock. "Hansel and Gretel are in bed. Benny is still fiddling with his computers, but he told me he'll be up for his shift on time." Since they were in no rush, there was no reason to waste fuel by going flat out. Instead, they were heading for their destination at the boat's most economical speed, which incidentally also made for a smoother ride. It was going to take them longer to reach the island they were heading to, however, so Benny and Dutch had decided to take turns at the helm.

"Good… What about Revy?"

"Last I saw of her, she was going to the can. She'll probably go to bed when she's done."

"You should get some rest too."

"Well, I had an easier day than you guys. All I had to do was go over some paperwork with Ms. Balalaika and Boris. I'm going to go out on deck for a smoke and then go to bed. I brought you some refreshments, too." He set the six-pack down on the widest part of the dashboard.

"Much appreciated, thanks."

"No problem." Rock then opened the hatch on the aft bulkhead, went out on the deck abaft the bridge, dogged the hatch closed behind him and lit up. He stood there for almost a minute, enjoying his cigarette, turning at a three hundred and sixty degree circle on the spot, observing the surrounding waters. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of light coming from somewhere aft. It only lasted a second, but he decided it was worth investigating, so he walked along the port side towards the stern. And there, he found Revy. She was sitting on the deck, resting against the cabin's aft bulkhead and the starboard spray shield, her long toned legs propped up on the raised engine room hatch. She was smoking a cigarette, which explained the light he'd noticed. She also had a small beer cooler next to her.

"Revy, what are you doing here? I thought you'd be in your cabin right now."

She didn't reply. Instead, she took a drag from her cigarette and opened a can of beer.

"Mind if I just sit down with you?"

Again, there was no reply. Something was bothering her, he could tell that much easily. The problem was how to deal with it. Should he just keep her company? Should he leave her alone? He could of course keep her company and try to get her to talk about whatever was on her mind, only with the added risk of getting threatened or just shot outright. He took the chance and sat down to her right. The hatch in front of him meant that he had to sit cross-legged, and he squirmed a bit in order to make himself as comfortable as he could in the small space with a ring buoy digging into his back.

"Here," Revy spoke for the first time and passed him a beer.

"Thanks." He opened it, raised it in a toast to her and took a sip, followed by a pull on his cigarette. "May I ask what's bothering you, or am I risking getting shot for my trouble?"

This time the reply was a noncommittal shrug.

He decided to rip the Band-Aid off, having already guessed what had his partner in such a mood. "They got to you… Hansel and Gretel… their story, I mean. I understand. You identify with them, Revy."

"Am I really that transparent, Rock?" Revy asked quietly and finished her beer, reaching into the cooler for another.

"Was I right?"

"Yes, damn it, you were." The cigarette dangled from her lips as she kept looking somewhere astern of the boat with a weariness in her eyes he'd only seen a couple of times before.

"Revy…"

"I may have mentioned stuff about my fucked up life once or twice," she said, interrupting him. "Although Hansel and Gretel didn't have to worry about being beaten to a pulp every day, or about having a roof over their heads or food on the table, that doesn't mean they weren't shafted good and proper. Fuck, they're still younger than I was the first time I killed someone and here they are, thoroughly accomplished killers already…"

"You and the guys only heard a summary of their story. You weren't there when they told Balalaika, Boris and me everything. Their handler would beat them too, every time he found their performance to be substandard."

"Son of a bitch… he's lucky he kicked the bucket the way he did." The butt of her cigarette, with the end still glowing, flew in a lazy arc towards the boat's wake as she tossed it overboard. "So yes, I look at them and I see myself, Rock. They're lucky big sis is such a big softie deep down. At least now they have a chance…"

"So are you, Revy. It's more than a job for you. In a way, it's personal. However, I'd wager there's more to it, based on how you're acting right now." He finished his cigarette and tossed it into the sea.

"Really? And what might that be, O wise one?"

He carefully considered what he was going to say next. Yes, she had opened up a little and talked about her feelings, but so far it was safe territory, about things he already knew or things that were glaringly obvious. If he kept on, she might either clam up or lash out and neither would help. "You admire them, Revy. Not for what they've been doing until today, but for being brave enough to want a normal life and seek help in order to achieve their goal. Right now, you're wondering about how many chances for a normal life you've missed over the years before coming here. Based on what you told me while we were inside that U-Boat, I think you were afraid… afraid of being treated like shit if you tried it and gave up the power that came with guns and money." He risked a glance in her direction. She was looking at him, but she didn't appear to be angry. If anything, he thought he could detect a trace of admiration in her eyes. "But that's just an educated guess, more or less," he added.

She took a sip of her beer and reached for another cigarette, taking advantage of the delay to gather her thoughts. "Looking back, it's easy to see all the missed opportunities. It's even easier to see why I missed them, too."

"Tell me," he said simply. "Just let it all out. You know you can trust me, right? I'm no shrink, but I think it will do you a world of good."

Normally, Revy would have laughed at this clichéd, mushy, emotional stuff and called him all kinds of names, but there was something in Rock's voice and, when she turned to look at him, his posture, that made her hold any disparaging comment or scathing retort back. And as fiercely as she guarded her privacy, she finally felt she could let go for once, especially since she did trust him indeed. Plus maybe, just maybe, spending an evening in the Twins' company doing simple, carefree, normal stuff with them after Balalaika had told them their story and entrusted them to her and the guys had helped lower her normally impregnable defenses.

Thus Rock heard her story straight from the horse's mouth. In a haze of cigarette smoke and between gulps of beer, she told him everything; from her mother leaving when she was still little (and to this day Revy didn't know if she was alive or dead), to the beatings she got from her alcoholic father on a regular basis, to the despair she felt walking the streets of Chinatown alone, wanting to avoid spending time at home as much as possible, to her beating and rape at the hands of a corrupt cop named Crawford that horrible night on the dirty floor of a 27th Precinct holding cell, to killing her father with his own gun the very next day when, callously indifferent to what she'd gone through he merely asked her to get him another drink, to her life on the streets and the struggle to survive by living a life of crime after that and a lot more, like spending some time in prison for a botched B&E shortly after she'd turned eighteen. As she spoke, her voice showed no trace of emotion. She might as well have been talking about the weather, although he suspected it was just a front she was putting on.

"I could have sought help after killing that dipshit I had for a father, but then again I'd heard all the horror stories about social services and the foster care system," she added. "Or I could have found an honest job after making parole. Granted, it would have been waitressing, retail or some other minimum wage thing most likely, but it would have allowed me time for night school or something… In the end I was too far gone to even consider that option, I guess. Do you know what I did in prison?" She didn't wait for an answer and instead just plowed on. "I was a model prisoner. I did all the work details, worked out, spent time in the library… that's how I managed to make parole. Of course, it didn't hurt that those fuckheads at the 27th couldn't pin anything bigger on me, like the hits I'd done. A few months after I got out, I wasted that motherfucker Crawford I told you about and got out of the country, ending up here."

For perhaps the first time in his life, Rock couldn't say anything. He had a lot on the tip of his tongue, but it seemed too little, too trite and too insufficient to even consider voicing. He did the next best thing instead. He got up on his knees, turned and enveloped Revy in a hug.

"Rock, just what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"You said it yourself once, Revy, we're buddies. This is a buddy hug. Take it." His words must have convinced her, for she didn't fight him anymore, but didn't acknowledge it or reciprocate either. He guessed it was due to the wall she'd painstakingly built around herself, not so much to avoid being hurt, but mostly to keep people from seeing her weaknesses. He'd just breached said wall, but only a little and it was going to be back up soon and stronger than ever, if he had to guess. "Feel better now?"

"Yes. No. Fuck if I know."

"It took real guts to tell me all that, you know. And I'm honored you trust me enough to confide in me. You're not too far gone, either. At the end of the day, you're just as human as the rest of us."

"Cut that pansy-ass mushy bullshit, will ya?"

"And you're back."

"Shut up." She got up, quickly put the empty beer cans in a plastic bag and picked up the cooler. "Let's go. I have a feeling it's gonna be a long day tomorrow."

"What can possibly go wrong? I mean, they are well behaved and all…"

"True, but think about it; we'll have to entertain them and I have no idea how to do it."

"If it's any consolation, they don't know either. They've never been on vacation before."

Even as they made their way to the galley to drop the empty cans off in the recycle bin and the remaining full ones in the fridge, Revy was wondering what the hell had possessed her to allow Rock to make her spill her guts to him about things she'd tried really hard to forget. True, she'd been affected by Hansel and Gretel's presence and their story, but it was just Rock being himself that had given her the extra push, she realized with a start. Before she knew it, they were in front of her cabin's closed door.

"Goodnight Revy," he said.

"Uh-huh." She opened the door and froze at the sight that greeted her. Instead of being asleep in the lower bunk, Gretel was sitting with her back against the cabin bulkhead, curled up in a ball, her eyes wide open and her arms around her knees. "Gretel, what's wrong? Why aren't you sleeping?" These words and the concern in them brought Rock running back to her.

"I'm scared, Revy," replied the girl in a small voice.

"Damn it, girl, you should have told us you're afraid of the sea or boats," Revy groaned.

"It's not like that. I am afraid that if I go to sleep, I'm going wake up and have to go to work and all this will have been just a dream."

Revy's eyes went wide. She was also clueless as to what she should do to help, so she turned and looked at Rock, silently pleading for guidance. He gave her a nod and a reassuring smile before nudging her towards the scared little girl. She understood and entered the cabin, closing the door behind her. She quickly took her shoulder rig off, followed by her boots, gloves and shorts. She then sat down beside Gretel. "It's not a dream," she said, putting an arm around the girl, who instinctively snuggled up close to her. "I'll still be here when you wake up, OK?"

Gretel mumbled something unintelligible in reply and sighed contentedly, finding the comfort she needed. Revy used her free hand to pull the sheets over them both and tried to find a more comfortable position for both of them without jostling the young girl too much.

-o-

Revy was clearly not a morning person and getting her to wake up and get out of bed was never easy, even for Rock, who had been saddled with this thankless task for a while now. Gretel, however, was exactly the opposite, being a light sleeper as a result of training and experience. So, the girl woke up with Rock's first knock on the cabin door. "Come in," she called and yawned.

Rock stuck his head inside the cabin. "Good morning, Gretel."

"Good morning, Rock." She noticed the lack of vibration from the engines and also that the boat wasn't moving, instead gently rolling with the swell. "Have we stopped?"

"Yes, we're anchored off an uninhabited island. Wake Revy and come to the galley to get your breakfast when you're ready."

"Okay," she chirped and gave Rock a big smile, getting one in return. The moment he closed the door behind him, she started shaking Revy. "Revy, wake up," she said in the woman's ear.

"Huh? What?" Revy's cracked one eye open and focused on the blond girl next to her. "Gretel?"

"Hi! Come on! Rock said breakfast is ready!" Gretel said brightly.

"Just gimme a moment," Revy said and yawned. "How did you sleep?"

"Very well, thank you." She took in her surroundings. "I guess it wasn't a dream."

"Told ya." She bounded out of bed and quickly put her shorts and boots back on. "Mind if I use the bathroom first?"

"No, not at all," replied Gretel and got to her feet, rummaging through her bags for clothes. Revy smiled and left her to change in peace while she went to the officers' head to relieve herself and wash up. Although she couldn't explain it, she was feeling good this morning. Had she bothered to delve into the subject, she might have found that it was a combination of her talk with Rock last night as well as doing a good deed by comforting Gretel and helping her through a moment of insecurity, before it turned into a full-blown panic attack.

A surprise awaited both of them in the galley. A variety of breakfast foods was arranged on the counter, so anyone could get what they wanted. In fact, it looked more like a hotel breakfast buffet than what one would expect to see on such a small vessel. Each grabbed a tray and got in line behind Hansel and Benny. Rock was getting a box of fruit juice from the fridge before making his way to the wardroom with his own tray.

"What's all this?" Revy asked. The wonderful smells permeating the air already had her salivating.

"Lagoon Cruise Lines aims to please," replied Rock. "Benny and I set it up. We figured it'd be easier this way. Just help yourselves to anything you like."

"Damn… I'll never complain about the food on this boat again if you make this a habit, Rocky baby. It sure beats the canned food we have to make do with most of the time."

"Speaking of canned food, there are baked beans and beanie weenies over there," he said and Revy watched as Hansel scooped a ladleful of beanie weenies onto his metal mess tray. "There's also chocolate milk in the fridge."

"Ha! Now you're talking!"

The atmosphere in the galley was relaxed. Everyone dug into their food, made small talk and looked at the small island visible from the small rectangular windows on the starboard side. The TV was also playing, tuned to a channel showing cartoons. Benny didn't even have to keep watch on the radar. They were away from shipping routes and the chance of running into trouble was minimal to nonexistent. Hansel and Gretel were commenting on what a wonderful treat pancakes were, never having had them before. Having tasted a sample in the galley, they had put a huge stack each in their trays. At first they were a little hesitant, being used to a rather frugal and balanced diet, but changed their tune once Dutch pointed out that they were definitely going to need the energy if they wanted to enjoy their vacation properly. The various activities they would have the chance to partake in would help burn off any excess calories. As Revy phrased it, they looked like they needed to add a bit of meat to their bones. She also used herself as an example. She ate whatever she wanted, but managed to keep in excellent shape.

"Wow. I'm stuffed," announced Gretel, finally putting her fork down and washing the last mouthful of her breakfast down with a generous sip of orange juice.

"Yeah," Revy agreed, fishing a pack of smokes out of a pocket and lighting up. "That was some spread."

"Good to hear it," said Rock and moved about, collecting empty trays.

"Where are you going?" Dutch asked him.

"These trays aren't going to wash themselves, Dutch."

"And I won the coin toss," Benny said smugly. "All right now, kids, what would you like to do first today?"

"Can we go see the island?" Hansel asked.

His sister nodded enthusiastically. "I'd like that. Plus, Revy can take my gun and try it out."

"The island it is," said Dutch. "I'll go inflate the Zodiac. Revy, it's your show."

"Got it, Dutchy. Kids, if you wanna go swimming, go change now."

Both jumped to their feet and headed to the cabins to change, Revy following Gretel. The three met up on the deck ten minutes later. Gretel was wearing her new light pink bikini and her denim shorts, her feet in a pair of black and purple sports sandals and carried a straw hat in one hand. Hansel had a pair of black swim shorts and his sneakers on, while carrying a bag containing towels, beach mats and a camera. Then, Revy made her appearance. She still had her jungle combat boots and shorts on, but the tank top was gone, replaced by a red side tie bikini, the bottoms just visible underneath the unbuttoned Daisy Dukes. Her most unusual accessories, however, were the M65 web gear she had on and Gretel's BAR, which she had slung over a shoulder. There was also a small toolbox and a black plastic bag with various odds and ends on the deck by her feet.

"I think I'm getting flashbacks," commented Dutch with an easy smile on his face.

"Yeah, Revy looks like she came out of a Vietnam-era magazine or USO troupe," said Benny (his well-honed survival skills kept him from specifically mentioning Playboy magazine).

Revy laughed and struck a pose, planting a foot on a torpedo tube and holding the BAR one-handed, the barrel pointed skywards. The click of a camera shutter was heard as Hansel decided not to let the photo opportunity go to waste. She smiled at the boy and posed for him again, this time with the weapon held at low ready. The dolly Gretel had hung from the front sling swivel as a good luck charm was still there and made for an even more interesting picture.

"Let's go!" Gretel squealed enthusiastically.

"Hang on a minute there, little girl," Revy said, setting down the gun. "Come here, both of you." In short order, both kids were slathered with a generous quantity of sunscreen lotion and she stepped back to admire her handiwork. "Now we're good to go," she declared.

-o-

Rock was below decks in the galley and was just about finished cleaning up when he heard the staccato bursts of rapid gunfire coming from somewhere off to starboard. He rushed to the deck, only to find Benny relaxing in his beach chair under an umbrella on the forecastle. He could also see Dutch through the bridge windows. "Benny, what the heck is going on?"

"Take a look," Benny replied smiling and handed Rock a pair of binoculars. He focused them and saw Revy shooting with the BAR from standing, kneeling and prone positions at a variety of targets set up on the beach, while Gretel stood behind her and to the left. The two were a couple of hundred yards away from the boat in a straight line. Hansel was walking towards them, camera in hand.

"Looks like Revy and the Twins are having a lot of fun over there." He paused for a minute when he saw her hand her Cutlasses over to Hansel, who took aim and started popping away at a separate set of targets. "I bet she's telling them that people also shoot guns for fun."

It was almost as if he could hear their thoughts. "You are right, Revy. This is fun!" Gretel exclaimed after emptying a magazine from a borrowed Cutlass into a paper target.

"You get my point now? Using guns doesn't have to be just for work. You could even ask Balalaika to let you join a gun club or something. Now, would you like to see why people are calling me Two Hands?"

"Show us, please," Hansel replied, handing over the Cutlass he still had in his hands. Together with his sister, he watched as Revy rapidly emptied two magazines, one from each gun, at two targets placed a good distance apart from each other. He also snapped a few more pictures with his camera.

"Well, I believe we're just about out of ammo," said Revy about twenty minutes later. "Let's police up the area, relax a bit and then head back to the boat. Gretel, you'll have to talk me through field stripping and cleaning your BAR, as I'd never handled one before." The three gathered up empty magazines, spent shell casings, shredded targets and the rest of their stuff. It only took them a few minutes and then they were walking back to a spot closer to where the boat was moored to find a nice spot to spread their beach mats and work on their tans.

"Revy, is Rock your boyfriend?" Gretel asked out of the blue.

The redhead turned towards the girl so abruptly that she almost lost her footing on the soft sand and only just managed to keep from falling face first on the beach. "What?"

"I read a lot of magazines. I used to tell our handler that it was just so I could practice my languages, but I also learned a lot about the world and relationships."

"Uh, no, he… he's not my boyfriend," Revy stammered.

"Why not? He's a very nice guy and he seems to be more like your type than, say, Benny."

"He's a good man and a good friend; I'm not going to deny that. But we're not romantically involved."

"Too bad. You two would make a cute couple." Now, cute is not a word one would normally associate with Revy, but Gretel didn't know that. "In both science and relationships, opposites attract," she added in a singsong voice.

"Just let it go already!" Revy huffed. Truth be told, she liked Rock a lot, but she didn't know if she was ready for a relationship and for the moment she kept her thoughts to herself. "This is fine," she announced, dropping the bags she was carrying on the sand. "Let's leave our stuff here and go for a swim. What do you say?"

Dutch appeared on the deck in time to see Revy and the kids splashing around, playing with a volley ball. "I take back everything I said about Revy not having any maternal instincts," he said.

"To be fair, it also depends on the kids," said Benny. "Remember Garcia Lovelace? He provoked her big time."

"She and the Twins have a lot in common," remarked Rock. "If I were to guess, they could tickle her for hours and she'd still let them go scot-free. Of course, it doesn't hurt that they're family to Balalaika, either."

"Just in case, we'll keep what we discussed here between the three of us," Dutch decided. "Anyway, Benny, Rock, I want you to come up with a list of activities to keep our guests busy and happy."

"We'll come up with something," Benny said confidently.


	8. Chapter 8

OK, another chapter done on time!

* * *

It was the second day of Hansel and Gretel's vacation with the Lagoon Company or, as Rock had only half-jokingly phrased it, the Lagoon Cruise Line. By mid-afternoon, everyone was aboard the Black Lagoon, just relaxing following a morning full of various activities on the beach. Gretel had asked for a picnic lunch and the hosts had gladly obliged her, going all out to provide it. They'd had it on a red and white checkered blanket underneath the cabana tent. Benny and Rock had provided several kinds of sandwiches, salads, various other snacks, refreshments, fruit and desserts. It had also led to a few funny situations, such as Revy and Gretel hogging most of the mini pretzels or Hansel being mistakenly given a can of Heineken instead of Sprite by a momentarily distracted Benny. The kid had guzzled almost half the can's contents before the culprit realized the mistake (while taking the first sip from the Sprite can intended for the boy), but it was not like anyone was going to prosecute them for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Everyone had laughed when Gretel demanded that her brother share the beer with her, declaring that she wanted to taste it.

On the boat's forecastle deck, Gretel and Revy lay on air mattresses, having changed into dry bikinis after the morning swim, dark purple for the former and golden orange decorated with black dragons for the latter, soaking up the sun and reading. Benny was sitting in a beach chair, enjoying a cold drink and smoking. Rock, Dutch and Hansel were all sitting together on the deck, backs against the bridge, talking. "I just had an idea," declared Hansel.

"Let's hear it, then," said Dutch.

"Can you shoot me out of a torpedo tube? I think it would be fun."

Rock glanced at Revy, who was showing something funny she'd just found in her magazine to Gretel. "I think Revy would love it too. Is it doable, Dutch?"

"Sorry, but no, we can't do it." He readjusted his sunglasses and proceeded to explain. "To begin with, all tubes are loaded right now. Rock, as you recall, we bought two torpedoes from the Rip-Off Church to replace the ones we fired at that EO chopper. Each one weighs 2,600 pounds."

Seeing Hansel's perplexed look, because the boy was European and thus more familiar with the metric system, Rock did some fast mental arithmetic. "That's approximately 1,180 kilograms."

"Exactly," nodded Dutch. "We'd need a crane to unload a tube and even if we had one, we have nowhere we can store the torpedo. Secondly, the tubes use a pyrotechnic charge and not compressed air to launch the torpedoes. You don't want one going off next to your feet. Also, you don't want to be inside a tube, not with all the oil and grease in it."

"Oh, well, never mind. It was a rather silly idea anyway," the boy said. "But there is something we can do, Rock." Hansel's easy smile turned into an evil grin as he whispered something in Rock's ear.

"Let's do this," replied the Japanese man. He got up. "I'll be right back," he said and went below. He rejoined Hansel in less than two minutes. Revy noticed them when she turned to lie on her back. They were sitting on the Number 1 torpedo tube and taking off the Hawaiian shirts she'd bought for them – Rock's was dark blue, with medium blue flowers and a line of beer bottles arranged in the form of a stripe around the chest, back and sleeves, while Hansel's was red with a Jungle Bird print, like the one Tom Selleck wore in Magnum P.I. – while trying, and failing, to hold back snickers. A particularly loud one came from Hansel when Rock put an old teal green tie of his around his head, with the knot at the back, like a traditional Japanese hachimaki headband.

"BANZAI!" Rock yelled before she could begin to fathom their intentions as he and Hansel ran together as fast as they could diagonally across the bow deck to the starboard side, just past Revy, and cannonballed into the sea with a huge double splash, some big drops of water landing on the two ladies. In righteous indignation, Revy fired several shots from one of her guns over the side, but aiming them high so as not to hit the two in the water.

"You pull that kind of trick again and I'm gonna shoot you both in the ass," she yelled. "Dipshits," she muttered and was relieved to find that both the magazine she was reading and her cigarettes had escaped water damage.

"The water's perfect! You ladies should join us," Hansel called out as he treaded water next to Rock, who was lazily swimming in a small circle a couple of meters away.

Revy needed no second invitation. Dutch had said once that she had natural talent when it came to swimming. She also loved the sea, finding it both challenging and calming. She executed a flawless dive and surfaced between Rock and Hansel. Gretel put her neon yellow swim fins on and grabbed an extra pair for her brother as well as his goggles, an underwater camera and her mask with a snorkel before jumping into the water. The sea where the boat was anchored was only three to four fathoms deep at most, meaning that the swimmers could easily free-dive down to some rocks protruding from the bottom and come back to the surface on one deep breath. They even swam under the boat, crossing from starboard to port beam and back again.

In short, they had about thirty minutes of fun before deciding to get back on the Lagoon. Rock was the first to climb on board the Zodiac inflatable tied up alongside and pulled Gretel and Hansel out of the water first, stepping aside to allow them to climb the aluminum ladder and reach the torpedo boat's deck. He then grabbed Revy's outstretched arms and hauled her up as well and quite effortlessly, too. He was stronger than he looked, something Revy had first noticed during their scuffle at the market and which she attributed to all the baseball practice he'd mentioned back then. As she was distracted by her thoughts, her feet slipped on the wet rubber of the inflatable's side air chamber and toppled forward right into Rock, slamming him against the Black Lagoon's side, fortunately not hard enough to do any damage, or even hurt, but they still ended up with their bodies pressed together front to front, his hands on her hips and hers on his shoulders.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly, pushing herself fully upright and feeling her face heat up slightly.

"No harm done," he replied, removing his hands from her as soon as he was sure she was all right. "After you," he added and followed her up to rejoin their crew mates and their guests.

-o-

"Damn it!" Dutch cursed loud enough to be heard by Rock and Revy, who were waiting for their respective turns at the makeshift shower stall rigged underneath the arch-shaped gun guard rail on the afterdeck. Hansel was using it for the moment and Gretel was toweling her long hair dry, having gone in first.

"What's wrong, Dutch?" Rock asked once the huge African American emerged from below.

"We'll have to change the dinner menu. Benny suggested catching some fresh fish for the grill, but my rod is ruined. It caught a bullet from the EO chopper's gun right in the reel."

Rock glanced over the side. He could see several fish swimming, alone or in variously sized schools, in the incredibly clear waters. "Can't we rig something with the line and a hook or two?"

"Not the way the line on the reel has been shredded," replied Dutch.

"I'd hate to use explosives and most of the fish are too deep to shoot," observed Rock.

The proverbial light bulb went off in Revy's head. "Now, that's a good idea, Rocky baby." She grabbed him by the hand and dragged him towards the nearest hatch. "Come with me."

"What crazy trick is Revy up to now?" Benny asked, as he casually strolled up to Dutch with his hands in his pockets.

"I can't say, but, knowing her, I have a feeling she's going to surprise us."

Before long, Revy came up on deck followed by Rock. She'd put a white t-shirt on over her bikini and was carrying two things: her dive gear and the Russian-made APS underwater rifle they kept in the armory. Rock also had his own dive gear, but neither had bothered with wetsuits. In such shallow water they weren't really needed. "We're gonna shoot the fish," she explained, rather redundantly as she finished strapping a sheathed knife on her left arm. She hefted the APS. "This is as good as a spear gun. Get ready and let's go catch our dinner, Rock."

"Already on it," he replied, swiftly pulling his buoyancy compensator and air tank on, followed by a weight belt, Revy following suit. She had the t-shirt on to avoid having the vest in direct contact with her skin. Her getup looked to Rock a bit like Jacqueline Bisset's memorable appearance in the opening scene of The Deep.

"Hey kids, have you ever gone scuba diving before?" Revy asked the Twins, as she rinsed her dive mask in a bucket full of seawater.

"No," replied Hansel. "But our handler thought it might be a useful skill to have, so he was planning on having us take lessons some time."

"Revy can teach you and Rock can help too," Benny told the kids, beating Revy to the punch.

"It will be a pleasure. Let's go, Rock!"

"Good hunting!" Dutch wished them as they went into the sea. Just then, a thought occurred to him and he hurried to the armory. When he came up on deck, he had his trusty shotgun and a G3A3 rifle with him.

"Why did you get the guns for, Dutch?" Gretel asked.

"Just in case," he replied.

Benny understood. "There will be blood in the water when Revy shoots her catch. It may attract sharks," he explained. "She'll have her underwater rifle, but it never hurts to have a little extra insurance." True, bull sharks and tiger sharks, the two species potentially dangerous to humans that could be found in the area were not frequently encountered, as he told the kids, but Dutch wanted to take no chances.

"I'll take the other side," declared Gretel, running to get her BAR and some ammo.

Dutch and Hansel kept watch off to starboard, while Benny joined Gretel on the port side. Meanwhile, Revy was swimming in a slow circle around the boat at a depth of about fifteen feet, closely followed by Rock. She grinned around her mouthpiece when she spotted a school of red snappers. She signaled her dive buddy to follow her while she moved to an advantageous position. Taking careful aim, she fired once, the steel bolt leaving the unrifled barrel and passing neatly through a fish near the middle of the school. She pointed to it and Rock gave her the OK sign, kicked with his fins and quickly gathered the dead fish into a net bag. As he caught up with Revy, he saw that she had already found another target. They repeated the process and she pointed upwards with her thumb once he had the second fish in the bag. The fish they'd just caught would be enough for a nice dinner.

When they got back on the boat, they handed the net bag to Dutch, who took it to the galley, while they proceeded to clean their equipment with fresh water, also giving the Twins a quick lesson about dive gear. Benny got started on setting up a charcoal fired portable grill on the spacious bow deck. After a quick shower, Rock joined Dutch in the galley and prepared some rice to go with the fish, which had already been cleaned, gutted and cut up into pieces. He also chopped bell peppers and onions, which Dutch skewered on bamboo sticks between pieces of fish. When the fish kebabs were ready for grilling, he took them to Benny and got back down to make some fries to serve on the side together with the rice. They also had tartar sauce in the fridge to go with the fish. Their dinner in the wardroom was a fun affair, with plenty of lighthearted conversation, music from Dutch's boom box and some surprisingly tame yet funny jokes from Revy.

After dinner and a movie (Lethal Weapon 3, which the kids thoroughly enjoyed), further entertainment came in the form of a poker game, Hansel and Gretel drinking ice tea and 'smoking' chocolate filled wafer rolls instead of the adults' whiskey and cigarettes. It led to some grumbling from Revy when she lost some of the month's paycheck to Hansel and got ribbed for it by the guys, but fortunately she mostly took it in good grace, not even threatening to kill Benny as she usually did.

Later, Benny gave the Twins their dead handler's laptop computer to further entertain themselves. He had already cracked the password and the file encryption and emailed the files to Hotel Moscow on the first night, sanitized it and installed some kid-friendly software and games. Power was no problem, for they had a small diesel generator to provide electricity even with the main engines shut down, which incidentally saved a lot of fuel.

The moon was dipping towards the western horizon when Revy went up on deck for a drink and a smoke. She found Rock sitting on the deck with his back against the bridge, looking up at the night sky and enjoying a nightcap.

"Mind if I join you, Rock?"

"Be my guest." He held up a half bottle of Bacardi. "Want some?"

"When have I said no to good booze?" She accepted the bottle and took a sip. "What are the guys up to?"

"They were all asleep when I left them in the cabin. What about Gretel?"

"Off in dreamland," she replied, stretching her legs and wiggling her toes. She hadn't bothered to put her boots back on when she decided to go up for some fresh air.

-o-

In the cabin she shared with Revy, Gretel woke up when a leg flopped over the side of her bunk as she turned in her sleep. Instead of going back to sleep straight away, she decided to get some water to drink and when she got up she noticed that her roommate wasn't in the upper bunk. Knowing that Revy avoided smoking inside the small cabin, it was easy to deduce the reason of her absence. After a refreshing drink of water, she went looking for the older woman, out of curiosity rather than concern. She'd just climbed the ladder leading to the bridge when she heard Revy's unmistakable laugh. Quietly creeping behind Dutch's chair, she glanced out the bridge windows and saw the backs of two heads. They were easy to identify, as there was only one redhead and one person with black hair aboard. So, Rock and Revy were spending some quality time together? Good for them, she decided. There was, however, something she could do to make it even better, she thought. She tiptoed back to the ladder and made her way to the forward crew quarters, where her brother was snoring away in concert with Benny and Dutch.

Leaning over Hansel's bunk, she shook him awake while covering his mouth with her hand. "Wake up, fratele meu," she whispered in his ear.

He pushed her hand away. "Sora mea? What's wrong?"

"Be quiet and follow me." She led him back to the bridge and silently pointed out the window. "See?"

"Rock and Revy are talking, smoking and drinking," he whispered back. "There's nothing weird about it."

"Ugh, you men can be so stupid at times! Can't you see that these two belong together?"

"Have you been reading your girl magazines again?" Hansel asked, still annoyed at having been roused from sleep. "What happens between them is their own business."

"It is, but as their friends we should at least give them a nudge in the right direction. They are doing a lot for us. Consider it a way to return the favor. By the way, my girl magazines are more informative than the car, motorcycle and gun magazines you like so much."

The boy knew how stubborn his sister could be and he also knew when it was best to concede defeat. "All right, what do you have in mind?"

"Mood music," she said with a grin, pointing to Dutch's portable stereo. He'd returned it to its usual place in the bridge after dinner. "We need to play some good love songs for them." She opened a locker and browsed through the CD collection stowed there.

-o-

"Gretel asked me something earlier," Rock said, accepting the bottle of rum back from Revy.

"What was it?"

"First you'll have to promise me you won't get mad at her."

"All right, I promise."

"She wanted to know when I'll finally ask you out on a date."

Revy gave him a funny look and started laughing. "Man, this is fuckin' hilarious! When we went shooting, she asked me if you and I were dating. I guess she wasn't satisfied with the answer she got and when she saw she wasn't making any headway with me she went after an easier target. What did you tell her?"

"Well, I had to be diplomatic about it. I mean, I had to answer her question without making you to be the villain or making myself look like a wimp."

"You're no wimp, Rock. Remember, you're one of the few people to look into the barrel of one of my Cutlasses and live to tell the tale, let alone have the guts to stand up to me."

"You still scare the hell out of me sometimes."

"I do, huh? Good to know."

"Anyway, I told her that we are friends and all, but neither of us is ready for a more intimate relationship yet."

Revy lit a cigarette. "You said you didn't want to make me to be the villain. What did you mean by that?"

"Come on, you know you would have shot my balls off the second I asked you out… or, to quote you, showed me what color my brain is."

"Maybe at first," she conceded. "But things have changed since then, haven't they?"

He nodded. After that day at the market, they had reached an understanding and a strong bond of mutual respect had been forged between them.

-o-

Meanwhile, inside the bridge…

"How much longer?" Hansel asked impatiently as his sister tried to find the perfect song to play for Rock and Revy.

"Patience is a virtue, fratele meu," she whispered back. "And keep your voice down."

With nothing else to do, he looked around. He could still see the two adults outside. His eyes then traveled to the gun tub and the steps sunk into its wall leading up.

"Got it!" Gretel announced triumphantly and held up a CD in its case, angling it so he could see the cover.

"Hm, Frank Sinatra… can't go wrong with that," he conceded. Sinatra was a favorite of the Mafiosi they'd been working for until recently. Working together, the Twins pressed the power switch on the stereo and loaded the CD in the player. Hansel got some bungee cords from the locker and climbed up in the gun tub to secure the stereo on the rails using the cords. When he was done, he went back down and let Gretel do the honors. She went up, pressed play and then quickly led the way back to the passageway below the bridge out of sight of the two on the deck.

-o-

Two heads jerked up when the first notes of I've Got You Under My Skin wafted through the night air. "What the fuck?" Revy exclaimed.

"Don't look at me," Rock said, holding up his hands. "I had absolutely nothing to do with this, but I think I know the culprit and so do you."

"Gretel," she agreed. "Damn, that girl doesn't give up. She's just as bad as Eda, I swear."

"Well, there's not much we can do about it."

"I guess I'm going to have a long talk with that little twerp about the importance of keeping her nose out of other people's business," she laughed. "Anyway, back to what we were talking about, how would you describe our relationship, Rock?"

He lit a cigarette, taking advantage of the delay to better formulate his answer. "I'd say we have a symbiotic relationship," he said.

"Symbiotic? Care to elaborate?"

"Sure. You watch my back when we are working and I try to take care of you the best way I can, or rather as much as you allow me to. We also complement each other at work. In between, we just have fun together, alone or with the others. Does that answer your question?"

"I suppose it does," she agreed. She thought about it for the moment. Rock was right. They complemented each other, like Yin and Yang. As the first song ended and Strangers In The Night began playing, she drank some more rum and plowed on ahead. "Suppose you asked me out and I said yes… How would you plan it?"

"That's easy. First of all, I'd make sure to have the car for the evening."

"It makes sense. Go on."

"Dinner would be first on the agenda. Even in Roanapur, there are good places to go while on a date. As to which one, that would depend on whether you'd like to dress up or stay casual. After dinner, we could go to the movies, unless you'd prefer to skip that and head straight to the Flag for drinks. Then, we could continue at a club, if we're in the mood for dancing, or go to another bar, like that rock and metal place you like so much. I think there's even a karaoke bar near Mr. Chang's offices. Finally, I would drive us back to our hotel and escort you to your door. How does that sound?"

"Sounds like you've been giving the matter some thought."

He chuckled. "This is a classic date plan. It worked fine in Japan, when I had time for relationships, that is. Of course, you being who you are, I might find some ways to spice it up even more. For example, I could take you to the gun club that opened recently a couple of blocks from the San Kan Palace hotel." He smiled as he imagined her having fun at a gun club. He remembered her childlike glee back when Dutch had given her the APS underwater rifle and he knew she was going to be like a little girl in a candy store if and when he took her to that place.

"You don't like guns," she pointed out.

"No, but you do," he replied as the stereo played Fly Me To The Moon. Then a thought occurred to him. "I'd even try my hand at it. I think it would make you laugh."

"Seeing you with a gun? Damn right I'd laugh."

"Let's try it," he suggested. "When we get back to Roanapur. It won't have to be a date, just two friends and coworkers going for an evening out."

"I don't know, Rock… dinner, dancing… sounds an awful lot like a date."

He shrugged. "We could skip these parts."

She looked at him, her expression softer than usual. "What if I don't want to skip them?"

"Then it won't be a date if you don't want it to be one," he replied with conviction.

"Or we could compromise and leave it to me to decide if it was a date or not. I'll let you know when we get back to the hotel."

"Fine by me." He took the bottle back from her and tipped it back. Only a couple of drops reached his tongue. "Damn, we're out of rum."

"And that's our cue to go get some sleep, I guess," she said. He got up first and extended a hand to her. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. "Goodnight Rock."

"Goodnight Revy. I'll take care of things up here," he said, pointing to Dutch's stereo, still faithfully playing the Frank Sinatra CD.

-o-

"How did it go? Did you two kiss? Was there tongue?" Gretel asked eagerly, bouncing up and down with excitement, even as she sat cross-legged on her bunk, her eyes wide and a big smile on her face.

"You've been waiting for me all this time?"

"Quit stalling and spill, Revy. Please?"

Revy grinned evilly. "Nothing happened. Rock and I just talked, smoked and drank some rum."

"Aw, man! Am I wasting my time with you two? Why can everyone else see it except for you and Rock?"

Revy glared at her as fiercely as she could manage at this late hour. "Pipe down there, kiddo. I distinctly recall telling you to drop it. Sticking your little nose in other people's business is likely to end up bad for you in this part of the world." She lightly tapped the girl's nose with her index finger for emphasis. "Remember Eda? She also likes to needle me all the time about Rock and if we didn't have a mutually advantageous business relationship I'd have filled her with so much lead they'd need a crane to lift her casket for her funeral. I'm too tired to give you the speech I wanted, but I'll tell you this one last time: Just drop it."

Gretel pouted, but allowed Revy to tuck her in. "Goodnight Revy."

"Goodnight you little brat," she replied as she climbed onto the top bunk. "Get some rest. You'll need it. Tomorrow, I'm taking you and your brother scuba diving, just as I promised." She killed the lights and turned on her side, closing her eyes, drifting off into a deep sleep quickly, her last conscious thoughts being about Rock and his perfect date plan.

* * *

A/N: I got the idea about fishing with the APS when I saw the 1/6 scale Revy Swimsuit Ver. Repaint Project Limited Edition figure on the net, combined with reading **"Rock and Revy Go Fishing"** by **anonymous1222** (which I highly recommend) here on FF dot Net.


	9. Chapter 9

Benny withdrew his stick from over the glowing hot embers at the edge of the bonfire they had made on the beach and examined the marshmallow skewered on its end with a critical eye. Finding it roasted to his satisfaction, he allowed it to cool for a minute before stuffing it in his mouth and chewing with a look of utter bliss on his face. "And this, kids, is how it's done," he told Hansel and Gretel. The Twins immediately followed his example and started roasting their own marshmallows.

Dutch took a sip of perfectly aged Ardbeg Providence whiskey from a hip flask as he watched from where he was sitting, comfortably reclining on a beach chair. "Well done, Benny-Boy. You can also show them how to make s'mores."

"All in good time, Dutch," replied Benny. "Let them get the hang of roasting their marshmallows first." But he still looked through the supplies they'd brought with them for the ingredients needed to make s'mores. "Boss, looks like you forgot to get some graham crackers. We can make do with the tea biscuits and the choc chip cookies we have here."

"Here, Dutch," said Gretel and offered the big man one of the sticks she was holding, the marshmallow on its end roasted to a nice golden color.

"Thank you, Gretel." He took it and pronounced it perfect after eating it.

"You are welcome," she replied brightly. "Hey, where are Revy and Rock? They've been gone a while."

"I'll go look for them," Hansel volunteered and began getting up.

"They can take care of themselves." Dutch waved the boy down. As if on cue, Rock emerged from the island's lush vegetation carrying an armful of wood for the fire.

"Took you long enough," Benny commented.

Rock dumped the branches and twigs into a neat pile by the fire. "I just wandered about a bit. What have you been up to while I was gone?"

"We are roasting marshmallows!" Hansel announced triumphantly. "Care for one?"

"Sure, thanks." In Japan, he used to eat them straight from the packaging or adding them to his coffee. This way of enjoying marshmallows was new to him, although he'd read about it.

"What's taking Revy so long?" Benny asked Rock. "You were together when you left, so what happened?"

"I don't know," Rock admitted. "She said she wanted to look around and just took off. She'll be back though. Look, she left her cigarettes and lighter here."

"For her sake, she'd better get back here before the marshmallows are all gone," Gretel remarked. At the rate they were going, the first bag of marshmallows was soon going to be empty.

"That won't be a problem," said Hansel. "I've already set some aside for her."

"How very thoughtful of you, fratele meu."

"She did take us scuba diving. It's the least I can do for her. Ah, there she is." They all looked up and saw Revy casually strolling towards the bonfire.

"Mmm, marshmallows," she said without preamble, plopping down on the sand between Rock and Gretel.

"Did you find anything interesting out there?" Dutch asked her.

"Just a boat, well, a yacht actually, passing by off to the west," she replied. "My best guess is that it's going to Phuket. It's no threat to us. Just a bunch of drunken tourists blasting the music really loud."

"Speaking of drink, I think you could use a cold one," Dutch said, tossing her a can of beer.

She caught it easily, cracked it open and took a greedy gulp before the foam could overflow. "You got that right, Dutchy. Now, where are my smokes? Ah, here they are. Now, all I need is a marshmallow."

"Got you covered," said Gretel and offered her a s'more.

"Thanks kid. So, are you excited about seeing your aunt tomorrow?" Balalaika had called them early in the evening, and told them that she and Chang had already finished dealing with the Sicilians. She and the kids had even had a long talk over the communications system.

"Yes," the two replied. Even though they had spent less than a day with the Russian woman, they had formed an attachment to her. She had been the first to show them some genuine kindness without expecting anything in return. She'd even sent them on a short but wonderful vacation with people she trusted implicitly, instead of just setting them up in a safe house back in Roanapur. They had also come to realize that even though the Lagoon Company was being paid for taking care of them none of its members viewed it as work. In fact, all seemed to enjoy it.

Despite her assurances to the contrary, Gretel wasn't done trying to play matchmaker. She was just a lot more subtle about it. And this time she had the unwitting complicity of her brother, a full battery on the laptop and some funny videos saved in its hard drive, courtesy of Benny. Saying that they were all going to get a good laugh out of them, she held the electronic device in front of Rock, pressing up against his side in order to get a better view of the screen. Similarly, the unknowing Hansel, who was farthest away from her, pushed Revy into Rock's other side as he leaned in to be able to watch the videos. Neither of her 'victims' suspected a thing as they focused on what the computer was playing. Things were further helped along by none other than Rock himself, who turned his torso allowing Revy's right shoulder to overlap his left, the two ending up almost cheek to cheek as they watched something the devious little girl was pointing out to them. And Rock wasn't one to complain about having Revy's warm toned body in such close proximity. On the contrary, he loved seeing her so relaxed and carefree. At one point he even unconsciously draped his left arm over her shoulders and she didn't protest or react in any other way.

Gretel barely suppressed a groan when Dutch told them it was time to call it a night, gather their stuff and head back to the boat. She had been having a lot of fun and didn't want it to end. They had to be in Roanapur by noon at the latest, so they were going to have to get underway immediately. In short order, the fire was doused, the trash collected and loaded along with everything else into the Zodiac for the short trip to the Black Lagoon. Once aboard, beach gear went into the hold, leftover food and drinks to the galley, the dinghy was deflated and stowed away and the trash ended up in sealed garbage bags and placed out of the way in the lazarette, the small compartment in the stern aft of the engine room where the steering gear was located and through which the exhaust pipes from the engines passed before terminating at the mufflers.

Benny took his usual seat in the electronics room, his eyes glued to the radar display. Dutch was in the bridge. He started the engines and turned off the generator once they reached operating RPMs. "OK, Rock, weigh anchor," he called over the intercom. Rock flashed him a thumbs up sign and hauled on the rope. The Danforth anchor was easily freed from the sandy bottom and stowed on the foredeck once it was pulled out of the water. With nothing else to do, Revy coiled the anchor rope to keep it from getting tangled around Rock's legs. The Twins had been up in the forward gun tub braced against the guard rail, just watching and talking, not having been assigned any task to perform.

-o-

The movie's end credits were rolling on the screen when Hansel picked up the remote and turned the TV off. He and his sister had invited Rock and Revy, the only other people aboard the boat who were not working or asleep, to the wardroom for a movie. He yawned and stretched his arms above his head. Looking around, he saw Gretel teetering on the edge of the padded bench seat and rushed to steady her before she toppled over onto the cabin floor. Her eyes fluttered open. "I think you'll find your bunk a more comfortable place to sleep than the floor, sora mea."

"Uh-huh," she mumbled and yawned widely. That was when she noticed Rock and Revy, who were huddled together on the opposite side bench seat, fast asleep. They must have been more tired than they'd let on when they agreed to the kids' proposal for a movie night. "We can't leave them like this," she said.

"You go to bed. I'll wake them up."

"No." She reached out and stopped him before he could shake either of them awake. "I have a better idea." She grinned giddily as she went around the table and pulled Revy's boots off. The redhead didn't even stir. Hansel got the hint and removed Rock's shoes. Working together, they made the sleeping duo as comfortable as possible before covering them with a sheet Gretel got from Revy's bunk. A plump cushion went under Rock's head, while his shoulder and chest acted as a pillow for Revy. Fortunately, the bench was wide enough to accommodate both of them.

-o-

Dutch put the boat on autopilot and went to the bow cabin after a quick pit stop in the head. He was about to shake Benny awake when he noticed that someone was missing. The blond hacker and Hansel were snoring away in their bunks, but Rock's bunk was empty. "Yo, Benny-Boy, wake up."

"My turn at the controls?" Benny asked sleepily.

"Yeah. By the way, where's Rock?"

"Dunno," he replied as he got his pants and shirt on. "I crashed just after we got underway and just assumed he was going to do the same. We didn't lose him overboard somewhere between wherever we are right now and the island, did we?"

"Well, he wasn't drunk or anything and I'm pretty sure Revy didn't shoot him. At least I didn't hear any gunshots. Screw it, I think I'm gonna take a look around before hitting the sack."

Benny was looking for his glasses when he inadvertently kicked the wooden crate Hansel had been using as a stepping stool to reach the upper bunk he'd taken. The noise woke the boy up and he mumbled something the two men didn't understand. "What was that?" Benny asked.

"I said, are we there yet?" Hansel repeated, this time in English.

"Not yet, kiddo," Dutch told him. "But we're almost halfway home."

"Oh, okay, Dutch," Hansel said, half-yawning and turned to go back to sleep.

"Sorry to keep you from sleeping, but have you seen Rock?"

Instead of replying verbally, Hansel lifted an arm and pointed in the general direction of the day cabin that served as the wardroom.

"Got it, thanks. I'll just go check up on him."

"Mrrhm," was the only reply and the kid was back in dreamland in seconds. Benny headed for the cockpit and Dutch went to the wardroom. A smirk formed on his face when he saw Revy snuggled up against Rock on a bench seat, a sheet covering them both. Deciding against waking them up, he returned to the forward cabin for some much needed sleep.

-o-

While was Revy notoriously difficult to wake up in the morning unless someone, usually Rock, came to rouse her from bed, the latter was usually up and about early, either on his own or courtesy of his alarm clock if there had been drinking the previous night. This morning, however, both were still fast asleep where the Twins had left them and showed no signs of waking up soon, as Benny found after Dutch took over the controls. Deciding to play it safe, he shook Rock's shoulder.

"Rise and shine, Rock. We got work to do."

"Huh? What time is it?" He rubbed a hand over his eyes and looked at his watch, his eyes widening in surprise when he saw what time it was. "Work, right," he said and tried to sit up, but a weight was holding him down. He did a double take when he saw a head with a shock of deep red hair on his chest and a tattooed arm holding him like an oversized teddy bear.

"Yeah, it's Revy. Wake her up too. I'll be in the galley."

"OK, Benny." Once his colleague left, he gently stroked a long lock of hair out of her face and shook her shoulder. "Revy, it's time to get up. Revy!"

"Fuck…" said Revy without opening her eyes, her voice a hoarse whisper. She'd been having a nice dream and didn't appreciate it being interrupted.

"Come on, I can't get up if you don't." That got her attention. She shot upright and blinked at him.

"This is mine," she said, referring to the sheet still partially covering them. "How did it get here?"

"Beats me," he replied. "Someone must have tucked us in, because the last thing I remember before Benny woke me up is watching the movie with the kids."

"Well then, Gretel must have gotten it from our cabin." She pushed it aside and pulled on her boots. "I'll go freshen up." She lit a cigarette on the way out.

He opened the roof hatch to get some fresh air in and nodded. "I'll go help Benny make breakfast," he called after her.

Since the sea was calm and the boat was traveling nowhere near its top speed, the smooth ride allowed Benny and Rock to cook a hearty breakfast for everyone. Benny finished his first and went to the cockpit to take over so that Dutch could also enjoy his morning meal in peace. There wasn't much conversation while omelets, croissants, cereal, grilled pastrami sandwiches as well as plenty of coffee disappeared down hungry mouths.

-o-

A few hours later, the Black Lagoon pulled up alongside its dock in Roanapur. The kids had already packed their bags and had them up on deck while Rock and Revy secured the mooring lines and pushed a boarding ladder against the hull side. Hansel was wearing a light blue polo shirt and cargo shorts, while Gretel had opted for a denim jumper dress over a white t-shirt. The two waved enthusiastically when they saw Balalaika waiting for them by her car on the dock and ran to meet her, Hansel leading the way. And then things went south. As Gretel made her way down the ladder, she tripped and toppled forward, taking down her brother as well, both of them falling on the pier in a tangle of limbs.

Balalaika's cigar fell from her mouth as it dropped open in shock a split second before she took off running towards the pier. Rock and Revy reached the kids first. He helped Hansel get up, while she saw to Gretel, carefully rolling her on her back. The boy wasn't in a bad shape. He'd just sprained his left wrist and scraped his right shin below the knee. The girl, however, was more badly hurt. The bangs falling over her forehead were dyed red with the blood that flowed from a long, thin but deep gash on her forehead just below the hairline and another trickle of blood was coming from her left nostril. Her eyes were also slightly unfocused.

"It's beautiful… the sky," she mumbled.

"Shit! Benny, get the kit! She might have a concussion!" Revy bellowed. Balalaika dropped to her knees next to them to do what she could to help and swore in Russian when she saw all the blood. Benny jumped on the pier holding a first aid kit. The first thing he did was shine a penlight into Gretel's eyes.

"Pupil dilation is normal," he announced. "She's just stunned from the knock on her head." He rummaged into the kit for a gauze pad and a small bottle of antiseptic spray. "Cover her eyes," he told Revy after wiping most of the blood off. He then sprayed some antiseptic on the gash and examined it again. "Well, she won't need any stitches. Steri-strips or butterfly closures will do just fine."

"Less talking, more working, please," said Balalaika, holding the girl's head steady.

"I'll be fine, Aunt Sofiya, don't worry," Gretel tried to reassure her.

"Does it hurt much?" Revy asked as Benny applied butterfly closures on the gash and stuffed some cotton wool into the still bleeding nostril.

"My pride hurts more," the girl admitted. "It's all my fault. How's my brother?"

Revy looked to her left, where Rock was fixing a dressing on the boy's shin and Dutch was securing an elastic bandage on the sprained wrist. "He's fine," she replied. "Can you get up?" When the girl nodded, she helped her stand. "Let's go get you cleaned up, because right now you look like you came out of a horror movie." She and Balalaika protectively flanked the girl as they led her into the Lagoon Company's warehouse/boathouse through the ramp entrance.

"You were right, Revy. I do look like something from a splatter thriller," she remarked as soon as she saw her reflection in the bathroom mirror. It only took the three of them a few minutes to wash all the blood off of her skin and hair and help her change into a clean t-shirt, however. Her nose had stopped bleeding by that time and the injury on her forehead was hidden by the bangs falling over it. In the common room, Hansel had also changed out of his oil-stained cargo shorts – from an oil stain on the pier – and into a brand new pair of jeans.

"You had me worried for a moment there, little girl," said Balalaika.

"Sorry, Aunt Sofiya," replied Gretel, suitably contrite. "I was really excited to see you. So was Hansel, by the way."

"I missed you too. Well, it appears your short vacation did you good though." They weren't as pale as they had been when they arrived in Roanapur, plus the combination of plentiful good food and physical activity was already beginning to yield results.

"Aunt Sofiya, do you like Chinese food?" Gretel asked as she ran a hand through her hair.

"Very much," replied Balalaika. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, Revy mentioned something about China Bowls at a place called Kao Khan and I thought it might be a good idea to give it a try. Hansel and I only had Chinese once, while we were in Marseilles."

"Let's go," she said simply and turned to Revy. "You'll all be joining us, right?"

"Are you kidding, sis? Of course we are. You know how much I like that place."

Balalaika led the kids to her car with her arms around their shoulders, asking about their vacation. Boris opened the rear door for them and then drove off, followed by the Lagoon Company crew in their car. The day's special at the Kao Khan was twice cooked pork in barbecue sauce with chow mein and vegetable spring rolls. It was crowded as usual, but they managed to get a table, especially since Balalaika had called ahead and made a last minute reservation.

They were all leaving the restaurant after a pleasant lunch when Balalaika's phone rang. She answered it and frowned after hearing what the caller had to say. "I'm sorry, but something urgent came up," she told everyone. "Dutch, I hope you won't mind entertaining the kids for a few more hours. Bring them to my office. You'll get the rest of your pay then."

"No problem," Dutch replied affably. "It's not like they are any trouble. It will be a pleasure."

"Thank you, Dutch. You always do smart work. Where are you going to go, anyway?"

"The Yellow Flag," Revy suggested before Dutch could reply.

"What? That's no place for kids! They are too young to drink!"

Hansel couldn't hold back a snort, but refrained from telling her about the beer incident on the island. Fortunately, Rock came to the rescue. "I'm sure Bao has soda and other non-alcoholic drinks he can serve them."

"All right," Balalaika relented. "I'll give you a call and let you know when I'm done."

-o-

Bao flipped his lid when he saw the Lagoon Company enter his bar with two kids in tow and immediately reached under the bar for his trusty shotgun. "You've got some nerve, Revy," he growled, so pissed that he failed to notice the vacation outfit Rock was still wearing instead of his white collar shirt, slacks and tie.

"What did I do this time?" Revy asked sweetly, at the same time trying to remember if she had started any trouble the last time she'd been at the Yellow Flag, which was just a few days ago. Other than using the butt of one of her Cutlasses to bash some idiot who'd crashed into her during a brawl, she'd been at her best behavior.

"Remember the last time you brought a damn kid to my bar?" Without waiting for her to answer, he plowed on ahead. "The place was burned down to the ground, that's what happened. And now you've brought not one, but two? What the fuck do you want to happen to this place this time, huh? Should I watch out for a fucking meteor falling out of the sky?"

She actually chuckled, infuriating the bar owner even more. "Relax, Bao," she said. Her voice was calm, but showed hints of amusement. "And also watch your language. These kids are very dear to Balalaika. Therefore, you should show some respect. Plus, in any case, if, and this is a big if, something untoward happens as a result of our presence here, you can just send the bill to her."

"Well, if you put it that way, they are welcome here. I'll only serve them soda or fruit juice, unless they want their livers to get shot to hell at such a tender age."

"Or you can just share your secret guilty pleasure with them," she said offhandedly.

"You know about that?" Bao practically screeched.

"Hey, it's your fault for giving Dutch one to go a few weeks back," she shrugged.

Bao turned to glare at the big man. "She saw you?"

"Kinda hard not to," Dutch replied. "Told you I had to hurry back to the office."

"Enough talking!" Revy snapped. "Get us our floats, Bao!"

While serving in the ARVN, the South Vietnamese Army, Bao had been introduced to the deliciousness called ice cream floats by the American troops he'd been working with. And even almost twenty years later, he still loved them. With a shrug, he set about preparing the drinks Revy had ordered for the Lagoon Company and their charges. Fortunately, he had enough ice cream and root beer. A couple of other customers looked like they were about to start laughing at Revy, but a hand inching towards a holstered Cutlass and a warning look from Bao at both the unwise customers and Revy nipped it in the bud. "Here," Bao announced, putting the six mugs on the countertop.

"Thanks." Revy took a sip. "It's not bad," she declared. "But I can make it better. Gimme a bottle of Bacardi." She poured some into her mug and tried it. "Hell yeah, that hit the spot."

"Excuse me, barkeep," said a voice in a Southern drawl from behind them. "May I have one as well, please? It's been an awful long time since I had some and it'd sure be nice to be reminded of home a bit." The man paused to think for a moment, eyeing the bottle of rum on the bar. "Can you also add some bourbon to it?" The man noticed Revy looking at him and tipped his boonie hat at her. "Mighty nice meeting fellow Americans, Miss," he told her. She raised her mug in acknowledgment and so did Benny and Dutch. The man introduced himself as Roland and told them that he was specializing in contemporary archeology and was currently researching the history of the area during the Second World War. Dutch even gave him a company card and told him not to hesitate to call if he and his research team ever needed deliveries made quickly and reliably. The exchange, however, also had a side effect that was beneficial for Bao's business. Instead of deriding ice cream floats, several patrons now wanted to taste them, especially with spirits such as whiskey and rum mixed in.

All in all, they had a good time at the Yellow Flag. Eventually, Balalaika called and asked Dutch to bring Hansel and Gretel to her office as agreed. The big African-American took care of the tab and led everyone to the car. Since Verrocchio and his gang were now gone, there was no need for the two kids to hide, so they were glued to the car's windows, taking in the scenery with wide eyes. At some point, Gretel noticed a shop near the Bougainvillea Trade Company headquarters and pointed it out to her brother, who instantly realized what she had in mind and nodded his agreement.

Balalaika looked up from the mass of papers on her desk and smiled as they entered her office. "Ah, there you are." She got up and gave Dutch a fat envelope. "This is the rest of your pay. I still can't thank you enough for taking such good care of them."

"Don't mention it. It was a pleasure," replied Dutch. "Plus, it's always nice doing business with you."

"Well, there is one more thing. Chang wants to meet them too, so we made arrangements to meet at the San Kan Palace hotel's restaurant for dinner tonight at eight. You and your crew are also invited."

Dutch let out a low whistle. "The San Kan Palace? It's rather more upscale than we're used to, but we'll be there. Thank you and Mr. Chang for the invitation. We'll see you there at eight." He then turned to lead his crew out of the office, but the Twins surprised them all by giving them tight hugs.

"Aunt Sofiya, can we go out for a while?" Hansel asked once the Lagoon crew left. "We want to do a little shopping. It's not far from here."

"Please?" Gretel added, making puppy dog eyes at Balalaika, who, predictably, caved.

"Fine, do as you please. How are you for money?" She reached into a drawer for some cash, but they said they had enough on them and promised to be back shortly.

-o-

In the Roadrunner, Revy was deep in thought. "Benny, can you drop me off at the Rip-Off Church? I don't have anything to wear that's good enough for the San Kan Palace and maybe Eda could help me with that."

"Sure thing," the blond man replied. "It's just a small detour."

"You'll need to smarten up too, Benny-Boy," Dutch reminded him. "And so will I. Rock, your usual outfit will do nicely. I suggest we meet up at the office around seven thirty. Everyone OK with this?"

Three OK's answered him.


	10. Chapter 10

Here goes:

* * *

"Hold on a second there, Revy! Can you run it by me one more time?" Eda couldn't believe her ears.

"You're kind of slow on the uptake today, ain't ya, bitch?" Revy shot back. "Fine! I need you to help me find a dress to wear to the San Kan Palace, so get off your ass and come with me."

"All right, just give me a moment to change and I'll be right with you." Eda went running to her room, leaving Revy sitting at the back of the Rip-Off Church's old Citroen van. She was back in minutes, wearing her decidedly non-conservative off-duty outfit and beckoned for Revy to follow her to her car.

Eda took Revy to the same store they'd helped Gretel do her shopping a few days earlier. There, she had her try on several outfits. She had to admit that her friend had a great body and she looked good in all of them, but there was a little problem: none appeared to be good enough.

"How about this one?" Revy asked, emerging from the changing room wearing a red and black dress.

"No," said Eda after a brief evaluation.

"Damn it, Eda, this is the seventh dress you've had me try on so far! What's wrong with this one?"

"Too damn flashy," the blond woman replied. "It looked better on the rack, but on you it's just hideous."

"Ugh, fine! Where's the next one?" Following Eda's pointing finger, she grabbed the next one and disappeared back inside the changing room. It didn't take her long to change and stormed back out.

"Whoa!" Eda exclaimed when she saw her.

"Not this one either?" Revy was getting tired. Shopping for Gretel had been fun, but this was just infuriating.

"Yes. That's the one!" She got up and walked around her friend, carefully examining the dress. "It looks fantastic, but it'll be better with a belt. Add the right pair of shoes and you'll blow Romeo's socks off."

"You do know I need it for a formal dinner, right? What's Rock got to do with it?"

"He'll be there, won't he? It will make him go nuts!"

Revy narrowed her eyes and shot Eda a poisonous glare. "I'd shoot you, but I don't have my guns on me right now, plus I don't want to be banned from this store forever. Aw, fuck it. Belt and shoes, you said." She carefully studied her reflection in a full length mirror. "I think I already have what I need. Gimme a moment to change and we'll go pay for it."

As they headed for the registers, Eda snagged a leather messenger bag-style shoulder bag from a rack. "You won't be able to wear your holster rig with that dress, so you can put your guns and extra ammo in here," she explained.

Revy took it from her and examined it. It was stylish and would do nicely indeed. "Good idea, Eda. Let's go." She paid for her purchases and her friend was kind enough to drive her to her hotel.

"I want all the dirty little details next time we meet for drinks," Eda said as she drove off, heading back to the church.

-o-

Unsurprisingly, Dutch was the first one in at the office. But then again, his place was closer than the others'. He had changed into a pair of dark blue linen pants, with his lucky belt at the waist, a pair of highly polished Oxford dress shoes and a dress shirt. A blue and burgundy striped tie and a lightweight grey suit jacket completed the outfit together with his trademark sunglasses. In fact, people who knew him would be hard pressed to recognize him. Benny and Rock were the next to arrive. The former was the more casually dressed of the three, forgoing the jacket and tie, wearing a light grey pair of slacks and a white shirt. Rock had just put on one of the business suits he favored, jacket included. After a short commentary on the radical change in Dutch's appearance, they settled down to wait for Revy. When she showed up, three mouths dropped open. The dress Eda had helped her choose was a black one-shoulder number that came down to just above her knees. The single wide sleeve came down to her elbow, hiding most of her tattoo. A wide brown belt with a skull and crossed cutlasses buckle encircled her waist, while two-tone brown cowboy boots were on her feet.

"Close your mouths, boys, unless you want to catch flies," she said, enjoying their shock while setting her bag down on the coffee table. "And I must say, you clean up very nice, Dutch. You too, Benny."

"Right back at you, Two-Hands," said Dutch with a grin.

"Where are your guns?" Benny asked. She practically never went anywhere without them.

She answered his question with one of her own. "What do you think I bought this bag for, Benny?"

Dutch glanced at the clock on the wall. "It's about time to get going. Benny, bring the car around."

-o-

The Roadrunner pulled up behind a grey Mercedes sedan in front of the hotel. Four people exited the other car, which then drove off. Benny handed over the car keys to a valet as he and his coworkers stepped onto the pavement. The passengers from the preceding car were none other than Balalaika, Boris and the Twins, the latter mentioned also dressed for the occasion, Hansel having traded his jeans and sneakers for linen pants and dress shoes, while Gretel was wearing a dark blue midi cotton dress and stylish sandals. Balalaika and Boris were in their usual suits.

"Hello, Dutch," the Russian woman greeted him. "You are right on time as usual."

"We aim to please," was the simple reply. The kids waved at him and his crew and they returned the gesture.

"Chang appears to be running a little late. I suggest we wait for him inside." She'd no sooner said that when a green Mercedes drove up to them and the man in question stepped out followed by his loyal second in command.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen," he said.

"You were almost late, baby," Balalaika teased him. "What kept you?"

"Had to take a small detour," he replied. "Some idiot managed to overturn a delivery truck and blocked an entire intersection. And as I've told you a thousand times, don't call me baby." He looked at the kids. "So, these are the Hansel and Gretel you told me about on the phone. Kids, it's nice to meet you."

"Likewise, Mr. Chang," they chorused and shook hands with him.

"I think it would be best to take it inside," Dutch suggested.

"Ladies first," Chang said affably, moving aside to allow Balalaika, Revy and Gretel to pass. "By the way, Dutch, you and Two-Hands look really sharp tonight."

"It sure feels nice to try a different style once in a while, Big Boss Man," Revy told him.

The maitre d' almost fainted in shock when he saw the two crime bosses approaching the restaurant's hostess. He knew that someone important had made a reservation, but he certainly wasn't expecting the leaders of the two most powerful organizations operating in the city to show up. He watched as the hostess led eight of them to a secluded table on the raised platform towards the back, while two more took another table nearby. He motioned for a waiter and the wine steward to follow him.

Meanwhile, Chang, Rock and Hansel gentlemanly pulled out chairs for Balalaika, Revy and Gretel respectively and then took their seats. Boris and Biu were already at their own table, from where they could keep watch over their bosses.

The waiter took their order and retreated to the kitchen. Gretel then reached inside her handbag and produced several gift wrapped packages. "Earlier today, my brother and I decided to get you all something as a thank you for everything you've done for us. Mr. Chang, I'm sorry, but since we didn't know what you like, our gift for you is something rather generic."

"It's the thought that counts, young lady," he said with an easy smile.

She nodded happily and started sorting out the gifts. "Aunt Sofiya, this is for you."

Balalaika took the small box and unwrapped it. Inside was a traditional Thai tiger face pendant. "It's beautiful," she said. "Thank you both."

"The store owners told us it's a good luck charm," said Hansel. "You can wear it, keep it on your desk or even put in on your keychain."

"Revy's next!" Gretel announced, passing her a wrapped box.

The redhead tore eagerly at her gift's wrapping paper. "Wow," she said when she saw it. It was a stainless steel dog tag and chain. The tag itself had a white skull and crossed cutlasses motif on a black background on one side and both her name and nickname stenciled in black gothic lettering on a white background on the other side. "Kids, I… well… thank you."

"Mr. Chang, this is for you," said Hansel, giving the Triad boss another box.

"Most impressive," he said, turning the black Zippo lighter with the golden dragon design and the relief dragon claws over in his hand. "I like it a lot, thank you both."

"Dutch, we had a wonderful time aboard your boat," said Gretel. "But picking out a gift for you turned out to be the hardest as well." She pushed a package across the table to him. "Go on. Open it."

A smile formed on Dutch's face when he saw what they'd given him. It was a first edition hardback novel, published in the States just the previous week. "This will be a nice addition to my library. Good choice, you two. Thanks."

"You are welcome," they chirped. "Benny, you're next," Hansel announced. The gift they'd bought for him was practical yet clever, a monitor filter for his computer to be precise. And it was one he appreciated.

"And last but not least, Rock," said Gretel. "We hope you'll find it very useful."

"Let's see," said Rock, tearing his package open. Inside he found an all weather clipboard, notebook and pen set, plus a baseball stress ball on a baseball glove stand.

"Well, Mr. White Collar, looks like they can read you like an open book," commented Revy.

"I'm not complaining. Like Gretel said, they're useful, especially the stress ball. I have to deal with you every day, after all," he said, looking teasingly at his partner. Revy just kicked his leg under the table hard, grinning evilly.

"Ow! Revy!" Rock complained. The Twins decided to defuse the situation by encouraging Revy to put her gift on. She gladly obliged and smiled as Hansel took a picture of her with his camera.

Throughout the meal the eight people sitting at the table made casual conversation. Balalaika, Chang and Dutch scrupulously avoided discussing business, focusing on the two guests of honor instead. In particular, Balalaika emphasized the need to provide them with a good education, to which they agreed, but their faces fell when she told them that the nearest international school was in Rayong Province, approximately two hundred kilometers northwest of Roanapur, not too far away in her opinion. However, she promised to discuss the matter further with them, and also said that she was going to have to hire a tutor to evaluate their level of education and give them remedial courses if required before enrolling them in a school.

After dessert and coffee – iced hot cocoa for the Twins – it was time to leave. Although she hadn't said anything, Balalaika was curious and excited to see how her new charges were going to react once she showed them the rooms she'd had prepared for them. She really liked the feeling of being something other than just an organized crime boss, in this case an aunt of sorts to the kids.

The parking valet had just brought Lagoon Company's car behind Chang and Balalaika's own cars when an SUV and two vans coming from the opposite direction braked to a stop when they drew level with the small party. The side door of the vans slid open, their back doors were flung open and several armed men came out of the vehicles. The barrels of three guns also poked from the SUV's side windows and a man with an assault rifle popped up through the open sunroof. Dutch and Balalaika were the first to react, yelling for everyone to take cover and drawing their weapons. In the space of a second, the street was transformed into a battleground.

Hansel and Gretel found themselves crouched behind the car next to Balalaika, who had grabbed them both and pulled them to safety before cocking her Stechkin and opening fire on their assailants. To their left, Dutch and Revy were also firing, while Benny and Rock had taken cover behind the Roadrunner. From where he was, Rock could see the trademark smile on the redheaded gunslinger's face. To the right, Chang was also in action, dual wielding his Beretta 76 pistols. Boris and Biu were dragging a man, one of Chang's bodyguards who had suffered a gunshot wound to a leg, to cover, while laying down suppressive fire with their own sidearms. Balalaika's driver had also joined the rest of them and was using an AKS-74U carbine to good effect.

Not willing to sit back and do nothing, Hansel, who was closest to the injured Chinese man, reached over and unclipped a carbine from the man's single-point sling and also grabbed a pistol from a hip holster. "Sora mea," he yelled, holding the bigger weapon out to her, knowing her love for heavy artillery, keeping the pistol, a 9mm NORINCO Model 213, for himself.

"Thank you, fratele meu," she said, accepting the gun and giving it a quick look. It was a Fleming Arms HK51, essentially a shortened G3A4 battle rifle, with a thirty round magazine. She extended the stock, flipped the safety to full auto, popped up from behind the car and pulled the trigger, peppering the first van's side from steering wheel to tail light with bullets. The combination of the HK51's short barrel and the powerful 7.62mm ammunition made for a ferocious recoil and a huge muzzle blast, but she still found it easy to control, being used to handling her old BAR. Her long burst took out four men and gave her aunt and Chang the chance to reload their own weapons. Hansel used his borrowed pistol to shoot the man on the SUV's sunroof, taking him out with a double tap to the chest and head.

From her position, Revy took out the three men in the back seat of the SUV and Dutch nailed the driver, eliminating the threat from their left flank, for a total of twelve hostiles taken out. There were fifteen of their opponents still left to deal with, however. Chang's driver used his tie as an improvised bandage over his leg wound and tossed a full magazine over to Gretel, who caught it easily and slammed it into her carbine.

"Hansel, Gretel, what the blazes are you two doing? Get down now!" Balalaika yelled as she reloaded her weapon.

"Can we talk about this later, Aunt Sofiya?" Hansel asked, dropping down next to her. "I'm out of ammo!"

"Here," the Chinese man handed over all his spare pistol ammunition.

"Thank you," the boy said politely, ejecting the empty mag and slamming a fresh one in. "Do you by any chance have more ammo for that H&K?"

"Some," he replied and held out a small shoulder pouch containing four more magazines. "Pass it over."

"Hey, sis," Revy said to the Russian woman. "Cover me! I'll try to flank them!"

"Sergeant! Go with her!" Balalaika ordered Boris. He followed Revy, who was firing her Cutlasses while running across the street all the way to the SUV and they took cover together in front of the vehicle. Revy peeked around it and saw that their opponents were preparing for another barrage. This wasn't good. They were still outnumbered and outgunned, their heaviest weapons being the HK51 Gretel was using and the AKS-74U Balalaika's driver had, against assault rifles and submachine guns. She paled when she saw two of them preparing an RPG-7.

"Boris, they have a fuckin' RPG! We need to take them out fast!"

"Go behind the parked cars over there. I'll cover you from here," he said.

"Gotcha. On three?"

"Works for me."

"One, two, THREE!" Cutlasses blazing, she crossed the short distance between the SUV and the row of parked cars, vaulting over the hood of one and making her way closer to the enemy, while taking care to stay out of the others' line of fire. Boris deliberately drew some of the enemy fire on himself, allowing Revy to continue unhindered and also taking some pressure off of the others. Having loaded fresh magazines in her weapons, Revy popped up and tore the RPG team to pieces with a hail of bullets. Almost simultaneously, a .44 Magnum slug from Dutch's Smith & Wesson punched through a van's windscreen and took the head clean off a man who was aiming a Beretta AR70/90 assault rifle at her. "Fuck me, that was close," she muttered as she reloaded.

By now the odds had been evened and then Gretel and Balalaika struck lucky when, while trying to suppress fire from a gunman crouching behind the front van's engine, their bullets clipped a fuel line and a spark touched off the spilled gasoline. The entire front end of the van disappeared in a wall of flame, forcing the men using it as a shield to pull back to avoid being burned. In doing so, some stepped out in the open and were quickly cut down. Two smarter ones who'd tried to hide behind the parked cars found themselves square in Revy's sights. They didn't stand a chance. Now outnumbered, the remaining gunmen decided that discretion was the better part of valor and piled inside the remaining van, but in doing so made themselves easier targets. Being engaged from three sides didn't help either. Chang killed the man behind the wheel just as he disengaged the parking brake. Driverless, the vehicle rolled forward and crashed into the back of the burning van in front of it. It was over quickly after that. The thin sheet metal of its sides and the regular glass of its windows and windscreen offered no protection against bullets. Boris took out the two men remaining up front, while Revy concentrated her fire on the right side sliding door. The rest fired at the van's left side and rear, turning its interior into a slaughterhouse.

The wail of police sirens could be heard in the distance as the combined Hotel Moscow/Triad/Lagoon Company team, plus reinforcements from the two organizations, carefully checked the bodies of their assailants to see if anyone was alive for questioning and to make sure no one was playing possum, waiting for the chance to shoot them in the back.

"Why am I not surprised?" Chief Watsup asked as he exited his car. The first person he saw was Revy. "I am enjoying myself at an official function with the mayor, then I get a report of a shootout downtown and I find that you're right in the middle of it, Revy."

"Don't blame me, Chief," she said dismissively. "It was self defense. Just ask them." She nodded in the direction of Balalaika and Chang. The corrupt cop paled visibly. For the moment, however, they weren't bothering with the likes of him. Chang was seeing to his injured driver, while Balalaika was looking annoyed as she surveyed the bullet damage to her car and a tear in the silk stocking covering her left leg.

"Um, OK, just tell me what happened here."

"Well, we were coming out of the restaurant when those cocksuckers pulled up and started firing at us. We checked the bodies and as it turned out they were some Italians who had been out of town and thus survived the recent showdown, plus some of their allies from a local gang and the Yakuza. Apparently they decided to take out Chang and Balalaika and we just happened to be there as well."

Boris and Biu took over dealing with any fallout from Watsup, so Revy was free to rejoin her coworkers by their car, which had survived with surprisingly little damage, just a bullet hole that needed to be repaired, since their assailants had concentrated their fire on the two crime bosses' cars. As she stood with them, she couldn't help but watch as Balalaika scolded the Twins for risking their lives by taking part in the firefight.

"But Aunt Sofiya," Hansel was heard to say.

"But nothing," she interrupted him, fixing them both with a stern look. "I distinctly told you to get down and take cover. I am not used to being disobeyed, you know. And I don't like it when people disobey me."

"Can we claim extenuating circumstances?" Gretel asked, batting her eyelashes, looking like the perfect picture of (sort of) innocence. "We love you and we wanted to protect you, just like you wanted to protect us."

"We are a family now," added Hansel. "And we'll be looking out for you, just like we've always been looking out for each other and like you are taking care of us now."

Balalaika smiled. "I can't win this, can I?" She shook her head and opened her arms. "Come here, you two." The three hugged tightly, relieved that they were all safe and sound. "Now, give the weapons you borrowed back."

The twins ran to the Chinese man, who was being helped into the back seat of a car. "Hey, mister," Gretel called out to him. "I believe this is yours." She handed him the HK51 back and Hansel returned the pistol to him. "They were useful, thank you."

The man smirked. "You put them to good use, as I hear. And you're both very much welcome." The door was closed and the two stood by and waved as the car drove off.

As the police and the Cleaners took over the scene, the onlookers that had gathered as soon as the hail of bullets stopped began to disperse and the people in the winning side split up to head to their respective bases. "So, Dutch, what are we going to do now?" Benny asked.

"I don't know about you, but I could use a drink right now," Rock piped up.

"I second the motion," Revy agreed, twirling a Cutlass on a finger before shoving it back in her bag. She was still wired from the gunfight.

"A drink sounds just about right," Dutch conceded. "Benny?"

"Get in the car, everyone," said the blond computer expert.

-o-

Bao almost dropped the glass he was polishing with a dishrag when he noticed their radically changed appearance as they all trooped inside the Yellow Flag. "Dutch? Benny? Two-Hands? What happened to you guys?"

Rock answered the question. "We were at the San Kan Palace for dinner with Balalaika and Chang. We had to dress up for the occasion, you understand."

The bar owner nodded. And then it came to him. "The shootout outside the hotel, were you involved in that?" The incident had made the local news, after all.

"Yeah," Dutch nodded. "We weren't the target, but we still got pulled into it."

"Well, I'm sure glad to see you all in one piece," said Bao. "Name your poison." Dutch ordered his usual whiskey, Benny a whiskey with a beer chaser, while Rock and Revy stuck with their preferred drink, Bacardi. They sat and sipped their drinks for a while, focusing exclusively on the glasses in front of them and letting the remaining adrenaline drain from their systems.

"Man, what a day," said Benny, breaking the comfortable silence. He reached inside a pocket for his cigarettes, only to find, much to his dismay, that the pack had been crumpled when he took cover. He made a mental note to buy a rolling machine and cigarette paper and at least salvage the tobacco and the filters from the ruined cigarettes.

"Here," Revy offered, holding out her own pack.

"Ah, thank you." He took one and lit up. The others followed suit. "At least Dutch didn't have to bail you out again, Revy."

"Watsup is a limp dick fuck," she snorted, idly watching the burning end of her cigarette. "He couldn't do anything, not with Balalaika and Chang around."

"Seeing those kids in action, I understand where their reputation came from," remarked Dutch.

"You don't say," said Revy. "I knew they were good with guns, but we were just having fun on that island. Today though… and Balalaika turning into a mother hen where they're concerned… can you fuckin' believe it?"

"Come off it, Revy, you like them just as much," Rock pointed out. "By the way, what did you say to Hansel before we left?"

"I gave him a souvenir; the short sword I took from the Yakuza guy he took out, the one in the SUV. He likes blades, so I thought it was a good idea for him to keep it as a trophy."

"It's called a wakizashi in Japanese," said Rock while refilling his glass.

"Thank you for that tidbit of useless knowledge," she said sarcastically. "Cheers." She clinked her glass against his and took a sip of rum. "Man, I'm tired. I wanna go home and sleep."

The others turned and gaped at her. She was suggesting leaving the bar before she got drunk? That was a first. But then again, they'd had a long day.

-o-

"Goodnight, sweetheart," said Sofiya as she tucked Gretel in. She ran a hand lovingly through the girl's long pale blond hair and patted her cheek. "Sweet dreams."

"Thank you, Aunt Sofiya. Sweet dreams to you too," replied the girl, giving the older woman's hand a gentle squeeze. "I didn't apologize for making you worry earlier…"

"Your brother already did, for both of you," Sofiya cut her off. "He said you two were worried about me, too."

"We were. I mean, we don't want to lose you…"

"I think I can take care of myself pretty well. Sometimes you and Hansel sound just like Boris. He's such a worrywart sometimes… and not just him, the rest of my men too."

"Can you blame us? We all adore you, after all."

She chuckled as she got up and headed for the door. "Sleep well," she said and turned the light off before closing the door behind her, yawning widely as she headed to her own room.

* * *

K2 Black Panther: I was originally planning on having a nice bloody shootout scene set in the Yellow Flag in the previous chapter, but I took the smallest of pities on poor Bao (Revy and the Twins - plus Balalaika and Chang - going on a rampage in the bar? A smoking crater in the ground would be all that'd be left of the place). Still, I hope you liked this one.

Until next week.


	11. Chapter 11

Hello everyone! This last week was rather hectic with precious little time to write, hence the few hours' delay in posting this new chapter. At this point, I'd like to thank K2 Black Panther again for his support, as well as those who put this story in their favorites and alerts. By the way, this chapter takes place not immediately following the previous one, but some time later, as you'll find out. Without further ado...

* * *

It was a slow morning at the Lagoon Company office. Rock was busy crunching some numbers, noting with satisfaction that the last few jobs had been quite profitable. Dutch was always careful about balancing the books and keeping a cash reserve, but since the Japanese man had joined the outfit, they seemed to be doing even better. Revy was the only other person in the office. She was in her customary position, sprawled on the couch reading a magazine. The bell above the door jangled, announcing an arrival. Revy's hand went to a holstered pistol out of habit, but she relaxed when she saw Dutch enter, followed by Benny. The two had gone down to the harbor to do some work on the boat and get some stuff from the now rebuilt warehouse/boat pen at the docks.

"Yo, Revy, Rock, you're both still here, good," said Dutch. "I have a job for you two."

"Good, I was getting bored," drawled Revy without looking up from her magazine. "What's the job?"

Dutch chuckled, knowing what was about to follow. "Just some errands I need you to run."

Predictably, she shot upright. "What? I don't like playing errand boy, you know that! Can't Benny go with Rock instead?"

"Calm down, Revy, and just listen to me for a moment." He waited until she huffed and nodded. "I need you to go, because you'll be doing deliveries today. You know; the packages we've been picking up here and there this week. Some of it is sensitive stuff, not to mention the pay we'll be getting, in hard cash, I might add, so Rock is going to need protection. I can't go and Benny isn't packing, so that leaves you."

"Fine, I'll go. Rock, get your ass up and let's get this over and done with." She was storming towards the door when she screeched to a stop. "Where's the stuff we're supposed to deliver?"

"Everything is in the car," replied Dutch.

"Destinations?" Rock asked.

The big African-American reached into a pocket and wordlessly handed Rock a folded piece of paper. He glanced at it, mentally mapping out the delivery route, and nodded. It was going to be easy enough. Even the amount of cash he was expected to bring back didn't make him uneasy in the slightest. After all, Revy was going to be with him. Benny tossed him the car keys. He caught them easily and followed his partner out the door.

As he drove, he sneaked occasional glances at her. She had her feet up on the dashboard and was idly smoking a cigarette while fiddling with the radio. She found something she liked and bobbed her head to the music. There was no angry outburst like the last time they'd gone on errands together. Finally, she spoke. "Where's our first stop?"

"Club Heart," he replied. It was one of the more upscale establishments in the City of Pleasure. Its owner was nothing like Rowan either, which was a plus in everyone's opinion.

"Swanky joint," she remarked. Reaching over, she plucked the paper with their itinerary from Rock's shirt pocket and studied it. The number written next to the Club Heart order got her attention. "Phew, that's quite a bundle. What are we delivering, liquid gold?"

"That's one way of putting it, I guess," he told her. After all, Perrier-Jouet was one of the most expensive champagnes in the world and a case of the stuff had made its way into the Lagoon Company's hands during an acquisition job for another client, which had happened to require a mild case of piracy. The Club Heart, with its higher-end clientele, was happy to buy the merchandise and pay premium for it.

"OK, now I see why Dutch wanted me to go with you," she said as she mentally tallied the total sum of money they were going to receive from their clients. Then she had an idea. "Hey, if we're done with the deliveries early enough, we could go to the Kao Khan for lunch. What do you say, Rock?"

"I'm game," he said and checked his watch. It was still early, so if they didn't run into any major trouble they could make it to their favorite Chinese food joint with time to spare.

The club's manager had been given a heads up by her boss and she was positively ecstatic when a bouncer led Revy and Rock into her office, the latter carrying the case of champagne. "I know we don't often get to do business with you, but it's a pleasure every time," she said. The woman was about Balalaika's age and quite beautiful, too. In fact, she'd been a dancer until she broke a leg in a traffic accident and could no longer perform, but she was capable enough to be promoted to manager.

"Where do you want me to put this?" Rock asked.

"Just leave it by the desk, thank you. Now, regarding your payment…" She opened a drawer and took a bundle of cash. "Sixty thousand dollars, as you agreed with the boss."

Rock quickly counted the money and put it away in his pocket. "Just like you said, it's always a pleasure doing business with you." He and Revy shook hands with the manager and left. The redhead was in a decidedly good mood, especially since this was turning out to be quite a payday.

As the morning wore on, they visited several other clients, delivering anything from confidential documents to special ammunition, the latter going to the Rip-Off Church. Yolanda had even paid without a murmur and Eda hadn't made a fuss or flirted with Rock either. Apparently they already had a buyer lined up. They were crossing the Slip Knot Bridge, heading back to the city after delivering a package to Roland the contemporary archeologist, who was with his team at an old WW-II Japanese Army base.

"OK, all that's left is a delivery to Balalaika and we can call it a day," said Rock.

"I know," she replied. After mentally counting her bonus from the day's pay, she thought it'd be nice to see the Russian woman again. She also wondered what the Twins were up to lately. She hadn't seen them since that night at the San Kan Palace.

-o-

"Good morning, Two-Hands, Rock," Private Sakharov greeted them from behind the front desk at the Bougainvillea Trade Company.

"Morning," Revy returned the greeting. "Where's the boss lady?"

"She's upstairs, somewhere. Go right ahead."

"Thank you," said Rock and led the way to the elevators, two thick manila folders clutched under an arm. When they reached the top floor, they ran into Boris, who pointed them towards the video editing room.

"She won't be in the best of moods if she's editing porn again," remarked Revy as she walked down the hallway next to Rock. They paused outside the door when they heard laughter. The sounds coming from inside the room told them that Balalaika wasn't alone in there. A familiar giggle could also be heard through the closed door. "What the fuck? Gretel's in there too?" Revy wondered. Rock shrugged and knocked.

"Come in," three voices said. Rock and Revy entered. Sure enough, Balalaika was seated at the console, with Hansel and Gretel on either side. She wasn't editing porn this time, though.

"Revy, Rock!" The kids jumped up and went to greet their friends, giving Rock a high-five each and hugging Revy. "You're just in time," said Hansel. "We're just about finished editing the last tape from our vacation. We'll make some copies for you too."

"That's nice of you," said Revy, mussing their hair to an annoyed squawk from Gretel. She also nudged Rock with an elbow.

"We have something for you as well." He handed one of the envelopes over to the kids, who thanked him and eagerly opened it.

"Look, Aunt Sofiya, it's copies of photos we took on our vacation!" Gretel exclaimed. Specifically, these were the photos taken with Benny's cameras.

"I can see that. Why don't you go get the copies of the other photos we made for Lagoon?" The kids had bought their own cameras and the films had been developed.

"Leave it to me!" Hansel was out the door in a flash and returned less than a minute later with an envelope labeled 'Lagoon Company', giving it to Rock.

"Why don't we take this to the lounge downstairs while the machine here makes the extra copies of the tapes? Balalaika suggested.

"Great idea!" Hansel grabbed Revy's hand and Gretel Rock's, pulling them down the hallway towards the elevators, Balalaika following behind them.

The lounge was a big room on the ground floor, where off-duty staff could relax, being essentially a combination of a break room, play room and café bar. A bar counter took up almost the entire length of a wall, and served refreshments, hot and cold beverages and snacks. Another wall was lined with pinball and arcade game machines. The rest of the area was taken up by card tables, pool tables, even a couple of air hockey tables, plus comfortable couches and armchairs placed around coffee tables. The small party took one of the couches. Rock and Revy browsed the photos the kids had given them, while the Twins showed their Aunt the rest of the photos taken during their vacation. The blond woman raised an eyebrow when she saw the photos of Revy and the Twins having fun at their improvised firing range, but that was the full extent of her reaction. Maybe that was why they were both pestering her to let them join a gun club. Revy had let them see guns from a different perspective. Her mind's eye pictured Gretel competing at the Olympics, something she had dreamed about but never had the chance to do and unconsciously pulled the girl closer.

Half an hour later, Rock and Revy left, taking with them the pay for the latest delivery, as well as the photos and video tapes Balalaika and the Twins had prepared for them. Gretel had also insisted on showing Revy pictures of her new room, just in case the latter had any decoration suggestions to add. It was a typical girl's room… mostly. The Iron Maiden poster and the M1918A2 BAR poster on the walls were the odd socks in there, contrasting with the wallpaper, the bedspread and the stuffed animals. But they still made the redhead laugh. She'd also noticed how prominently both she and Balalaika featured in the collection of framed photos displayed on a shelf. In the end, she said that the room was perfect and that Gretel herself was going to improve it as she grew up.

They made it to the Kao Khan just as the early lunch crowd began gathering, much to her delight. They got their orders and took a table outside. As they ate, he couldn't help but notice she was still in a very good mood. Normally, she hated that part of their work with a passion, preferring to work out or sit in the office doing nothing instead of going on errands, but this time she appeared to be enjoying it.

-o-

"We're back!" Revy announced loudly as she entered the office and then vaulted over the back of her favorite couch, reaching out to grab a magazine once she'd settled into a comfortable position on the cushions.

"There was no trouble, I take it?" Dutch queried from his chair, where he was reviewing some company paperwork.

"None whatsoever," replied Rock. He bent down and carefully placed the money he'd collected on the coffee table. "All our clients paid and we even had time to see Hansel and Gretel when we were done with the business for Balalaika. They also gave us copies of photos and videotapes they took on their vacation with us." The relevant packages went next to the money on the table.

"Benny will take care of those when he gets back." Picking up the money, he quickly counted it and then split it into five piles. Four were their bonuses, while the fifth was to go into the company's cash reserve. He pocketed his share and gave Rock and Revy theirs. "You gotta love it when your hard work pays off," he commented with a smile.

Soon, Dutch left to go on one of his walks. By now, Rock knew how their boss liked to conduct certain business over payphones instead of using the office phone. Benny was still out somewhere. Probably having internet sex with Jane, Revy had theorized (she had used rather more vulgar terms, though). She was still vegging on the couch, while he was almost done updating the books.

"Revy, have you got any plans for tonight?" Rock asked out of the blue.

"Not really," she replied. "Why?"

"Assuming we don't get a new job, would you like to go out with me?"

She got up on her elbows and turned to look at him, an unlit cigarette dangling from the corner of her mouth. "You mean go out like we discussed that night on the boat?"

"Yes, I mean exactly that. I think it would be nice, considering how hectic things have been for all of us recently." Hectic was kind of an understatement. A lot of their most recent jobs, the one they'd done for the Rip-Off Church involving 'Greenback' Jane especially, had been everything from grueling to right down dangerous.

"Sure, I could use a good time," she said after briefly thinking about it. "As I recall, you claimed you can show a lady a good time. I'll leave the planning to you. Oh, and I'd like to go somewhere not too casual."

"Got it," he said. So, she wanted to dress up again. That was no problem. He'd already given the matter some thought and come up with various plans. Time to put one of them in action, he thought. It was still early, just three in the afternoon, as the clock on the wall showed. All he had to do was find out if he could borrow the car or adjust his plan accordingly if it turned out to be unavailable. "Pick you up at your place around seven?"

"Fine by me," she replied and went back to her magazine.

Dutch ran into Rock in the stairwell leading up to the office. "Going out, Rock?"

"Yeah, for a bit. Got some things to take care of." Rock paused just short of the exit. "Dutch, do you know if I can borrow the car tonight?"

"Well, we don't have a job or anything lined up for today and I don't have any other plans either. Benny should be here in less than an hour, so you can ask him as well."

"Ok, Dutch, thanks. See you later."

As expected, only Revy was in the office, rooting through the cabinets in the kitchenette. "I just saw Rock heading out," Dutch told her. "It's not like him to leave the office, unless I send him off on a job. What's he up to?"

"I'll tell you in a minute," she replied. "Want some coffee? By the way, he's done with the books."

"Please." Dutch sat down and saw that Rock had indeed updated the company books. He looked up when Revy handed him a coffee. "What's that?"

"It's coffee," she said and sat down with her own mug. Then she smiled. "You mean the mug? I got us a new one each. Remember when Rock suggested that I go for a walk a day or two before we took the Twins on that trip? I found them in a little store and then forgot about them." Hers had a skull on one side of the grip and 'Death Before Decaf' printed on the other. Dutch's mug was even bigger and had 'A Giant Cup Of I'm The Fucking Boss' on one side and 'I'm not Bossy, I'm The Boss' on the other. "As for Rock, he's taking me out tonight, so he went to take care of some things."

"So, you two are going on a date, huh?" With those two, it was a question of when, rather than if.

"Rock and I have an understanding. It will be a date only if I decide so. Otherwise, it will be just two friends going for a night out on the town."

"And to think you once told me that you couldn't partner with him, remember?" He watched her carefully and noticed the slight uncomfortable shift of her eyes. "I won't lie to you, Revy. Having Rock around has been good for you. It's like what was eating at you deep inside is more bearable now. And then came the business with Hansel and Gretel, two kids broken just like you were. You know what I think? By helping fix them you also fixed yourself a bit more."

"You really think so, Dutch?" Revy asked.

"I wouldn't have said it otherwise." He took a sip of his coffee. "Thanks for the mug, by the way."

"You are welcome." She smiled and drank some coffee as well.

"Since we haven't got any new jobs, why don't you take the rest of the day off after you finish your coffee? Just relax, get ready for your evening out… you know."

"I might do just that. Thanks, Boss." For the moment she was content to enjoy her coffee, smoke and read.

-o-

The dress and the belt were neatly laid out on the bed. The boots were on the floor and the shoulder bag was next to the TV. Satisfied that everything was in order, Revy went to take a shower. She relaxed under the soothing spray of water, thinking about her upcoming evening out with Rock. There was no doubt in her mind that he was going to take her somewhere nice. Although he had adjusted pretty well to living in the City of Immorality, he was still mostly a normal guy who liked doing normal things. Therefore, it stood to reason he was going to come up with something good for their outing. She shampooed her long hair, soaped up and then rinsed off. She was still toweling her hair dry when she emerged from the bathroom. The closet doors were still open, so she inspected her body in the full length mirror inside one of them. A glance at the clock told her it was time to get dressed. Soon, she was ready, so she sat down on the bed and watched some TV while waiting for him to come pick her up.

Rock was quite pleased with how things had turned out. Benny had told him he was planning to stay at home and chat with Jane over the internet, so there was no problem about taking the car for the evening. He had a good plan, if he said so himself, and had even had the time to shower and visit the barber for a nice shave. He'd also decided to eschew wearing his usual tie in favor of a more casual look. At seven on the dot, he knocked on her door. "Come in," she called from inside the room.

He opened the door and peeked inside. "Hey, are you ready?"

"Yes. Let's go." She got up, picked up her bag and went to the door. "What, no flowers?" She was teasing him and she was certain he knew it. His chuckle confirmed it. Instead, he held an arm out for her and she looped hers through it. When they reached the car, he even held the door open for her. The radio was tuned to an easy listening station and the traffic wasn't bad as he weaved the GTO through it. At the restaurant, one she'd never been to before, he again pulled out a chair for her and ordered for both of them. Revy decided she liked a take charge man on a date. Well, she hadn't yet decided on whether it was a date or not.

"So, how is it?" Rock asked her at some point, trying to start a conversation.

"Well, it's too early to tell, but so far it's not so bad," she replied, fingering the dog tag the twins had given her. She was feeling somewhat out of her depth there, not being used to going out like this.

"I meant the food," he clarified. "I found this place completely by chance and thought we might give it a try."

"The food, right," she said. "It's great, actually. I never thought Mexican would go so well with Chinese cuisine." She held up her glass of Tsingtao beer. "This stuff isn't bad, either."

"Glad you think so. By the way, the owner is Mexican and his wife Chinese, so they thought they might as well combine the two styles."

She could go with this kind of conversation. Rock was keeping it light, not delving into issues that might be uncomfortable or embarrassing for her. "So, tell me, Mr. White Collar, what have you planned for us next? You're doing rather well right now and I can't help but be a bit curious."

He smiled slyly. "You'll just have to be patient, Two-Hands, but rest assured you'll like it." He mentally reviewed his plans and surreptitiously checked his watch. Good, he was still within his carefully prepared schedule. They kept up the small talk, focusing on fun subjects, such as Benny's still new relationship with Jane, concluding that the two deserved each other. Rock also revealed some details regarding Jane's presence on the Black Lagoon that Revy ignored, having been busy dealing with the pyromaniac lardass, as she described the late Claude 'Torch' Weaver. Her narrative of how she had taken him out with some help from Dutch had Rock spellbound as he listened. He'd been inside the boat with Benny and Jane and missed all the excitement on the deck and in the engine room.

After the meal, he took care of the check and they went on a short walk. They stopped at a street vendor and he bought her some ice cream, saying that he'd recently promised to get her one and he wasn't one to break a promise. She laughed when she remembered it and said that she still owed him some cotton candy.

The next stop was at a movie theater. The Chase starring Charlie Sheen and Kristy Swanson was playing and Rock had chosen it thinking it was right up Revy's alley. He went all out, buying popcorn, soda and sweets for both of them before leading her to their seats.

"Where to now, Rock?" Revy asked him as they exited the cinema. She'd enjoyed the movie and was generally having a great time, as evidenced by her smile.

"That's up to you," he informed her, wanting to let her have some initiative. He still had a couple of places in mind, just in case she wanted to pass and leave it up to him.

She looped her arm through his and led him to a nearby park. They strolled aimlessly around, passing couples sitting on benches or walking by. "It's very peaceful here, which is saying a lot. We're in Roanapur, after all," she commented. "Come to think of it, I didn't have to draw my Cutlasses yet."

"Let's just hope you won't have to, at least for the rest of the evening. A shootout doesn't exactly figure very highly in my plans."

"Speaking of the rest of the evening, I could definitely use a drink," she said. "Let's go someplace not too loud, though."

"Okay. Let me think… We could try one of the bars nearby, or just go to the Flag."

Going to the Yellow Flag sounded appealing to her, but trouble could flare up at any time over there, as they both knew perfectly well. She decided to try something else. "There's this lounge bar I've heard about, near Balalaika's place. Do you know it?"

"Never heard of it until now," he replied. "But it sounds like a good idea."

-o-

The bar wasn't very crowded and the music wasn't too loud either. The lighting and spacious seating arrangements also made for a relaxing and comfortable atmosphere. They took a corner booth by the front window and once again Rock took the lead and ordered their drinks. While waiting for their order to arrive, they sat in a companionable silence, just watching the night traffic outside.

"What's this?" Revy asked when the waitress set two martini glasses down on their table.

"Drink and find out," he told her. "Cheers." They toasted each other and drank.

"Damn, this is good. It's got Bacardi in it, right?"

"You can't have a good Daiquiri without Bacardi," he said sagely. "I did a bit of research on the subject."

"Pfft, now you sound like Dutch, always doing your homework," she laughed. "What other drinks with Bacardi in them can we order here?"

He had been expecting such a question and just smiled. They ended up drinking a Hemingway Daiquiri, a Mulata Daiquiri – she loved the rich taste of aged rum and cocoa in the latter – and finishing with a classic Bacardi Cocktail, followed by a glass of 151 each. As it was getting a bit late, Rock paid for their drinks and they walked back to the car, taking a longer route to work some of the alcohol off their systems.

-o-

Rock parked the car in front of the hotel they were both staying in. He got out and opened the door for her, doing the same for the hotel's front door as well and then escorting her to her room, where he waited patiently as she rummaged inside her bag for the key. She opened the door and moved to go inside, but paused.

"Rock, I had a great time tonight." She turned around, fully facing him, placed a hand on his shoulder, stood on tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "We should do that again sometime soon."

"Any time you want, Revy," he said. "I had a great time, too."

"Goodnight and thank you. You really know how to plan a good date."

"So it was a date, huh?"

"Do you want me to change my mind?"

"No, not at all," he replied.

"Good, because I don't want to."

"Sweet dreams, Revy."

She gave him a small wave and went into her room, closing the door behind her. He didn't realize it, but he had a big smile on his face as he walked to his own room.

* * *

I hope you enjoyed it.


	12. Chapter 12

Before we start, I'd like to thank you all one more time for your continuing support and encouragement. In this chapter, Dutch will again get his wish for a job where he won't get shot at, plus another glimpse into Hansel and Gretel's new life.

* * *

Gretel smiled as she threw a couple of chips onto the pile in the middle of the table. She waited until her opponent and the four more Hotel Moscow soldiers sitting with her placed their bets and then picked up a revolver. She spun the cylinder, pointed it at the ceiling and pulled the trigger. A hollow click sounded. She giggled as she handed it to the man sitting across from her, grip first. He repeated the same actions to yet another click.

"Pavel, are you sure this thing works? If it does, we both have the devil's luck today," she commented.

"Only one way to find out," shrugged Pavel. He popped the cylinder open, carefully rotated it to a specific postition, slammed it closed and pulled the trigger. BANG! "It works," he laughed, extracting the spent cap and tossing it in an ashtray. "Where are the others?"

"Here," one of the onlookers said, handing him a cap they'd cut from one of the circular discs that came with the toy cap gun they were using for their version of Russian Roulette. The cap gun reloaded, they embarked on another round, which Pavel won. She didn't mind, as she'd already won two rounds and they were playing for small change anyway. She finished the rest of her soda, cashed in her chips, wished everyone else a nice day and went off in search of her brother, the coins in her pocket rattling a bit as she ran. After suffering in the tropical heat of Roanapur while wearing her old heavy clothing, she'd developed a definite preference for lightweight apparel, hence the basketball shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops she had on that day. She skipped to the elevators, took one and got off on the top floor. Balalaika had given her and Hansel the use of a spare office next to hers for whenever they decided to drop by. And she had just heard some very interesting gossip she was dying to share with him.

Sure enough, Hansel was sitting with his feet propped up the desk, working on a crossword puzzle. He looked up as she entered and hopped up on the desk. "I take it you had a good time downstairs."

"If only Aunt Sofiya knew what the guys and I were up to," she chuckled.

"What were you playing this time?"

"Russian Roulette, well, sort of," she replied and jangled the coins in her pocket.

"You know we don't really have to worry about money, right?" Their new aunt had turned out to be as good as her word. The five million dollars their former handler had amassed were now in a trust fund set up for them and arrangements had been made for them to receive a small stipend every month.

"There's nothing wrong with having a bit of fun. The lounge is also the best place to learn the latest gossip. You won't believe what Pavel told me!"

"Cut to the chase, please." He was sure it was nothing important, so the sooner she told him, the sooner he could get back to his crossword puzzle magazine.

"He and Dmitry went to the Dream Lounge last night on an errand and guess who they saw there!"

"Rock and Revy," he replied casually, stealing her thunder.

"How… how did you know?"

"I know you, sora mea. Plus, you do happen to have an unhealthy obsession with trying to play matchmaker where those two are concerned. Need I remind you of your antics on the Black Lagoon?"

"Fine," she grumbled. "The point is that the two of them were there, alone, and Revy was also dressed to the nines, which means they were on a date. I like to think I had a hand in pushing them in the right direction." Seeing Hansel's bored expression, she plowed on. "They are our friends, let me remind you. And as their friends we should want what's good for them."

"Look, I'm happy for them if they are dating, don't get this wrong. But I still think we should let them take their time, OK?"

"Whatever." She hopped off the desk, jumped on the couch, made herself comfortable and picked up a history book. Balalaika had encouraged them both to study history and current events, among other things, in preparation for going to school eventually. They were already good at math, science, English and French, so with a little boost they were soon going to be ready for entering the seventh or eighth grade, depending on the assessment they were going to get by the tutor Balalaika was soon going to pick for them.

-o-

Revy refilled her glass and took a sip of beer. "So, Eda, where's the old skank? She should have already told us off for drinking in the chapel," she said.

Eda stubbed out her cigarette before replying. "She's in Bangkok on business. You know the saying, right? When the cat is away…" She laughed and ran a hand through her long blond hair. Her coif was hanging off the back of her chair. She eyed the deck of cards resting on the altar. "Are you up for some poker?"

"I'll pass," replied Revy. "It's too fuckin' hot and the damn AC is barely keeping up. At least you fixed it."

"Speaking of hot, how are things with Rock?"

"You never give up, do you?"

"Come on, girlfriend, I need some gossip to cheer me up. It's hot, I'm bored and I want someone other than that jackass Rico to talk to. Do you know that I haven't shot anyone since I wasted that cowboy motherfucker on your boat?"

"Well, if you put it that way, at least I can throw you a bone, bitch."

"Why, thank you," Eda said as she tilted her chair back and rested her feet on the altar.

The redhead grinned maliciously. "Rock and I went out last night."

Predictably, Eda almost fell backwards in shock. "You went out? Like, just the two of you, without Dutch and Benny? Where did you go? The Yellow Flag?"

"Nope. He took me to dinner first." Damn, she was enjoying this. Eda was speechless, her mouth opening and closing, in a good imitation of a fish out of the water. "Then we got some ice cream and went to the movies. Let me tell you, he can show a lady a very good time."

"And what happened after that?"

"We went for a walk. It was still early, so we decided to go for drinks, but I wanted someplace other than the Yellow Flag, so I suggested the Dream Lounge."

"Holy crap," exclaimed Eda. "It's a very nice place." And then it came to her. "Hang on a second! You didn't go to the Dream Lounge looking like this, right?" She pointed to Revy's usual outfit.

"Of course not," Revy snorted. "I was wearing the dress you helped me find. Do you want to hear what happened next?" She waited until Eda nodded. "He ordered the drinks. That place has an amazing variety of Bacardi-based cocktails."

"Figures," Eda managed to say. "And then?"

"It was getting late, so we just walked around a bit and then we went to get the car. He drove us home and escorted me to my door before going to his room."

"You're pulling my leg! You had a great time, by your own admission, and not only you didn't fuck his brains out, but you didn't even kiss the man? I really need a drink." She raised a whiskey glass to her lips.

"Who says I didn't kiss him?" Revy said nonchalantly while lighting a cigarette.

Eda almost choked on her Scotch. "You kissed him," she spluttered.

"On the cheek," Revy explained, chuckling. "I wasn't going to shove my tongue down his throat on our first date, after all. That said, we'll be definitely going out again and soon."

"Are you? Well then, you'll definitely need more suitable outfits. You can't wear the dress, fantastic as it is, all the time. You'll need a little variety. We're going shopping the next time you are free."

"Fine by me," shrugged Revy.

"Wait, you are free right now, so we'll strike while the iron is hot. Come on, Revy. It's shopping time."

-o-

They emerged from the store loaded with several bags and boxes, which they stuffed inside the trunk of Eda's car. "You know, I'd never spent that much on clothes in one go," remarked Revy.

"Well, you can afford it."

"Luckily, our latest jobs paid well," Revy admitted as she wiped some sweat off her brow. "But it's still hot."

Eda spied a street vendor selling refreshments. "You can buy me a nice cold drink and we'll call it even."

"Sure, name it." Revy was already taking some money out of a pocket.

"A Coke will do." They had just bought their drinks from the cart when they saw a couple of familiar faces.

"Hello Gretel," Revy greeted the girl. "Hello to you too, Spooky Chick," she nodded to Sawyer, who nodded back.

"That was not polite, Revy," Gretel scolded her. "Ms. Sawyer is actually very nice."

"Is that so? How did you two meet?"

"She came to Aunt Sofiya's to get paid for a job and graciously offered to accompany Hansel and me to the store. She's quite knowledgeable about video games," Gretel told Revy. "You should apologize to her," she added.

"I… am not… offended, Gretel," said Sawyer. There was no lingering animosity between the cleaner and the gunslinger. Whatever had happened between them was considered strictly business. They might even get to work together in the future. Just then, a U.G. Pork truck pulled over next to them. "I have to go… back to work," Sawyer told them. "See… you around… Two-Hands. You and your brother too, Gretel."

"Bye Frederica," Gretel chirped.

Revy shot her a bemused look. "So, it's Frederica now, is it?"

"I told you she's very nice," Gretel said.

"Looks like she survived the cluster fuck at the docks pretty much unscathed," Eda remarked. "And I heard your Taiwanese friend was released from the hospital, too."

"I heard about that, too. Chinglish must have the lives of a cat."

"We all do, Revy. We all do. Otherwise, we would have been dead and buried a long time ago."

Gretel didn't say anything. The incident was common knowledge in Roanapur, after all.

Revy didn't leave her much time to dwell on it. "So, Gretel, how come your aunt let you go out on your own? She must have known Spooky would have to go to work at some point."

The girl smiled and patted her fanny pack. The meaning was clear. She was packing some heat. She also opened it to show Revy and Eda the 9mm Colt Commander pistol inside. At that moment, Hansel got out of a store, carrying a bag with their purchases. "Revy, Ms. Eda, nice to see you," he greeted the two women. He turned to his sister. "Where's Ms. Sawyer?"

"She had to go back to work," Gretel informed him. "Did you get everything we need?"

"And then some," he replied. "Frederica said she is going to ask her friend Lotton for his opinion on a couple of other things and give us a call, too. He takes gaming quite seriously, as she told me."

"Cool. I can't wait to see what the fuss was all about, fratele meu."

"Excuse me, but how are you going to get home?" Revy asked. Armed and ready or not, Roanapur was still not the best place for kids, even though that particular neighborhood was safer than most.

"We'll hitch a ride with some of Aunt Sofiya's men," replied Hansel. "They had a client to see nearby and they said they'll pick us up on the way back."

"There they are," announced Gretel, waving at two men heading for a car. They waved back and the Twins gathered up their shopping bags. "Well, it was nice talking to you again. Give our regards to the others, too."

"Will do, kid," Revy said, patting the girl's shoulder.

"Bye," they said and ran to the car. Their bags went in the trunk and they hopped into the back seat.

"I'm impressed," said Hansel. "You didn't press Revy about Rock this time, or ask about their date."

"It wasn't easy, I'll tell you that much." She'd had to fight hard to tamp down on the urge to pester Revy with questions about her recent date with Rock.

-o-

"Did anything interesting happen while I was out?" Revy asked the others as she breezed inside the office.

"Nope," replied Benny. "It's a slow day. There's pizza on the table over there, if you want some."

The air conditioned office was like a walk-in freezer compared to the heat and humidity outside. Revy shivered as her body adjusted to the change in temperature. Pizza sounded fantastic though. Her stomach growled eagerly as the aroma hit her nose the second she opened the box. She gave Benny the thumbs up as she devoured the first slice. "Benny, where are Dutch and Rock?"

"They're out, somewhere. Dutch said he wanted to go for a walk and invited Rock along. Maybe they'll manage to get a nice job lined up for us. What about you, Revy, how was your day?"

"It was OK. I dropped the BAR Gretel gave me off at Praiyachat's and told him to work his magic with it. Later, Eda and I had some drinks and then we went shopping. We also ran into the Twins. They say hi."

"Shopping with a friend… Be careful, Revy. One of these days you may turn into a real human."

She laughed. "You wanna die, Benny?"

"Not really," he replied chuckling. "You know, Rock was quite happy today, so I take it your date yesterday went well."

"Well doesn't even begin to cover it. It was perfect." She looked around. "This pizza's great, but I need a drink. Did you guys leave anything for me, or did you guzzle it all?"

"Hang on a sec." Benny got up and went to the small fridge in the kitchenette. "You're in luck. There's plenty of beer here." He grabbed one for her and one for himself and went back to sit with her.

"Cheers," she said, cracking open her Heineken and taking a greedy gulp. "Hey, how come you aren't on your computer exchanging dirty messages with your girlfriend?"

"Jane's busy with some work she got. She said she'll call me when she has the time."

"Huh. I'm not one for long distance relationships, but if it works for you…"

"It's not like we don't see each other often or anything… But, if you don't mind me saying so, you also seem to be doing better lately yourself."

She remained silent, just nodding in reply. She was indeed doing better. Dutch was right. She was slowly but surely fixing herself. The appearance of Hansel and Gretel had been a major turning point in her life. She'd felt a kinship of sorts with them once she learned of their story. At the same time, she'd come to appreciate the small things Rock was doing for her every day, from bringing her breakfast in the morning to just lending a sympathetic ear when she was in the mood for talking to being a steadying presence with his unique moral code and just being her friend. Unlike the others who had accepted her just as she was and generally left her alone, he was poking and prodding to the point of making her take a different look at her life.

-o-

Dutch finished the call with one of his contacts and replaced the payphone's handset on its cradle. With Rock's able assistance, things had been done to his satisfaction. "You did very well, Rock," he told the younger man as they fell into stride together and walked the busy streets of Roanapur.

"It was nothing. Things like that used to be my bread and butter back in Japan." It wasn't long ago, but to Rock it felt like a lifetime had passed between his old career and this day.

"You've been quite upbeat today, so I take it your evening with Revy went well," remarked Dutch.

"All I'm going to say is that she and I are going to go out together again soon. Yes, it went very well."

"I'm glad to hear it. As your employer, I like it when relationships between my employees are good."

"I know. So, what are we going to do now?"

"Benny's at the office, so he'll take any calls. Revy should be with him by now. As for the two of us, we'll just take a stroll around town, keep our eyes and ears open. Not just for work, but also to see if there is anything we can get at a good price."

"Always be on the lookout for bargains, right?"

They were passing outside a café when a voice called out, "Hey, Dutch! You got a minute?"

"That's Richie Leroy," Dutch informed Rock, nodding towards a man wearing a red Hawaiian shirt and khakis. "He's got a job for us, apparently."

Richie Leroy was what one could describe as a jack of all trades, something between a middleman and a PI. He could find things, people and services – for a price.

"Hello Leroy," said Dutch. "How's business these days?"

"Can't complain, Dutch. From what I hear business's good for you as well," Leroy replied and left a few bills on the table. "Let's take this to my office, shall we?"

-o-

The phone managed a single ring before Benny snatched it off its cradle. "Lagoon Company, this is Benny speaking."

"Benny-Boy, is Revy with you?"

"Yep, she's right here, Boss."

"Good. Take her and come pick us up. We are at Richie Leroy's office right now and we got a new job."

"OK, see you in a few." Benny hung up and glanced at Revy, who was peacefully asleep on the couch. "Revy, wake up," he called.

Her eyes opened slowly. "I'm awake. What's up?"

"Dutch called and said he got a job for us, passed on from Richie Leroy. He and Rock are still there at his office. We are to pick them up."

Revy nodded and put her holster rig on. "Let's go and don't forget to lock up."

A few minutes later, the crew was in the GTO heading for the docks. From the looks on Rock and Dutch's faces, Benny and Revy could tell it was going to be a well paying job, so they waited patiently for the details. "OK, people," Dutch began. "This is a simple job. We'll be picking up two people from Ko Mak island and taking them to Pangkal Pinang. Out of all the possible routes, including Hainan Island and Brunei, this was the best option."

"So we're taking them to Bighorn Elroy, huh?" Benny mused.

"Ha-ha," Revy laughed. "From Leroy to Elroy, got it?" Then she got serious. "If Elroy is involved, it must be big. I only hope our pay will be worth our time."

"Don't worry, Two-Hands," Dutch told her. "There is a risk and it was factored in when we talked to Leroy about our fee."

"What else can you guys tell us about the people we're transporting?" Benny asked as he passed a bus.

"Only what Leroy himself told us," replied Rock. "Apparently, our passengers conned a client of theirs big time and made off with quite a bundle. Predictably, there is a price on their heads now, considering the client was a Yakuza clan, so they need to get out of town fast. The good thing is, they have plenty of money to finance their getaway with."

"It's almost a thousand miles to Elroy's," Benny pointed out. "Why not just take them to Singapore? It's much closer."

"The Yakuza won't be expecting them to get so far away from Thailand so soon," explained Dutch. "Leroy said that they'll most likely have Singapore and most of Malaysia covered. Brunei's too high profile, too. They already have people watching most ports here in Thailand. Our passengers were lucky to make it to Ko Mak unnoticed. Just to be on the safe side, we'll heave to a couple of miles off the island and Revy and I will go pick them up in the Zodiac."

-o-

The trip was a long one. The passengers initially looked rather nervous, but relaxed once the Black Lagoon left Thailand far behind. Knowing that the boat's three thousand gallons of high-octane gasoline were enough for fifteen to twenty hours of cruising, depending on speed and sea conditions, Dutch had arranged a rendezvous off Singapore with a captain he knew, to refuel. Both passengers, a man and a woman, kept to themselves and stayed out of the crew's way. Fortunately, the weather was also cooperating, a rain squall being the worst they had to face during the entire trip. Finally, the Black Lagoon glided smoothly into the harbor at Pangkal Pinang. As Dutch and Rock got busy tying the boat to a pier, a mustachioed tall blond man wearing a blue tropical shirt, lightweight khaki pants, sunglasses and a short brim straw fedora casually walked towards them with his hands in his pockets.

"Dutch, long time no see," he greeted the big man.

"Yeah, it has been a while," replied Dutch.

Elroy looked at the two people who'd just emerged on deck behind Dutch. "I take it that's the cargo."

"Right. I know it was last minute, but were you able to get them passports?"

"Everything's taken care of," Elroy informed him. "Besides, when isn't it a rush job?" After all, there was a reason why Elroy was considered one of the best getaway men around. Leroy had made sufficient arrangements on his end as well.

After the passengers, whose names the Lagoon crew had never learned, paid the agreed fee and bade them goodbye, Elroy pointed them to a car he'd parked by the pier.

"They'll be OK now."

"I know, Dutch. However, this is my last job as a getaway man. I'm leaving. I've a son living in South Africa. Just got a letter from his wife… only thirty four years old and the doctors just diagnosed him with cancer."

"Well, Elroy, I hope it's treatable."

"Thanks. Either way, I'm getting too damn old to keep walking the tightrope. At least this last job was worth it, financially speaking. Well, see you."

Dutch and his crew watched as Elroy shuffled tiredly to his car and drove away with his clients. He shook his head and turned to the three on the boat. "Benny, you'd better check the engines. Rock, come with me. We'll have to buy more fuel. Revy…"

"I know," she interrupted him. "Stay here and keep an eye on things."

"I'll get you something nice as a souvenir, if I have enough time," Rock promised her.

"Be careful, Rocky baby. I could get used to it."

-o-

Thirty six hours later, they were back in Roanapur. Even with the fuel expenses, they'd made a nice profit, therefore they were all in high spirits, despite the exhaustion from the long journey to Pangkal Pinang and back. At Dutch's suggestion, they took some time to rest and clean up before reconvening at the office and heading to the Yellow Flag to celebrate another job well done.

"Where have you guys been?" Bao asked them as they took their usual seats at the bar. "It's been a couple of days since I last saw any of you around here."

"Oh, we've been busy," Rock told him.

"On the plus side, we have money to spend here," Revy added.

"That's good, unless you destroy the place again."

"Come off it, Bao. Revy's been a perfect angel lately," said Rock, draping an arm over the redhead's shoulders and pulling her close to him. Bao tensed, expecting her to break said arm at the very least, but she merely smiled and motioned for a drink.

"Something has changed between the two of you," he remarked, putting a bottle of Bacardi and two glasses in front of them.

"What do you mean, Bao? We're still buddies," said Revy.

"They went on a date the other day," Benny informed Bao. He swore he'd heard Revy mutter 'tattletale' under her breath, but since she wasn't threatening or trying to kill him, he just smirked at the bar owner's surprise.

"You got her to go on a date with you, Rock? I'm impressed. The first two drinks for each of you are on the house."

"Thanks Bao," Rock and Revy chorused. "I'd have done this sooner if I knew it would get me free drinks from you," she added.

"Don't get used to it, Two-Hands. By the way, those two kids you seem to like so much were here with Balalaika and Boris yesterday. They said they wanted to introduce the Russkies to ice cream floats."

"Mmmm… can you please get me one, Bao? With rum?" Revy asked him.

"Sure thing. Rock?"

"Yeah, I'll have one too." For the rest of the evening, the four enjoyed their drinks, bantered with Bao (he was a great source of gossip and other useful information) and generally had a good time. They deserved it, after all. As for Rock and Revy, they were also thinking about the next time they'd get to go out on a date together.


	13. Chapter 13

Time for a new chapter! Yet again, I'd like to thank K2 Black Panther (are you a tank crew member, aficionado or modeler, by any chance?) for his consistent support and heartening reviews, as well as all those who have added this story to their favorites and alerts.

* * *

"Fuck!" Dutch cursed and slammed the throttles against their stops. The engines responded instantly, roaring as the increased power propelled the Black Lagoon to its top speed of over fifty knots. "I knew our string of easy jobs was too good to last."

"Dutch, you've got to ease up on the throttles," Benny piped up from his station. "The temperatures in number one are redlining and we're also going to run out of fuel pretty soon if you keep it up."

Dutch glanced at the port engine's gauges and swore again. "Go check it out, Benny-boy! Revy!"

"Yeah, Boss?" Revy replied through the intercom.

"They'll be closing in on us again! Give them a taste of Two-Hands!"

"I thought you'd never ask, Dutchy! Rock! Get me the BAR and ammo… lots of ammo!"

Rock rushed up from the armory, carrying the BAR Gretel had given Revy, which Praiyachat had customized, a spare barrel and the ammunition for it. "Here," he told her, passing the items up into the forward gun tub. "Can't you use the grenade launcher?"

"I tried, but I can't aim properly with the boat bucking up and down like this. What the heck's our cargo for them to want it so bad, anyway?"

"All we know is that it belongs to Ronnie the Jaws," Rock informed her. "His people never told us what it is." Ronnie the Jaws was the leader of the Italian Mafia in Roanapur. After Verrocchio and his outfit were wiped out by Balalaika and Chang, a different family, much friendlier towards the Triad and Hotel Moscow, had taken over.

"I'll be really pissed if it turns out to be his favorite wine!" Revy snarled as she attached the modified Heckler & Koch belt feed module to the BAR and fed the lead end of a two hundred and fifty round belt into it. She then braced the weapon against the guard rail, aimed and pulled the trigger as the pursuing boat, a thirty-foot sport fishing boat fitted with no fewer than four powerful outboard motors, drew level with the Black Lagoon. Both boats were bucking like wild bulls on the waves, which made it difficult for Revy to aim accurately. On the plus side, the gunmen on the other boat found hitting their target to be just as hard.

Revy's first burst did no serious damage to the enemy boat, other than opening a few fresh holes in its hull and shattering a couple of windows.

"They hit the cooling system for the number one engine on their first pass," Benny reported from the engine room. "You're gonna have to shut it down, Dutch." With an engine out, their maximum possible speed would drop to just over thirty knots, not enough to outrun their pursuers. In any case, as Benny had already pointed out, going flat out meant that the engines were soon going to be running on fumes.

The mention of cooling systems gave Rock an idea. He ran down to the hold and filled a big bucket from the fresh water tank. Passing through the galley, he also added as much ice as he could get from the freezer into the water. Once in the bridge, he lashed the bucket down as best as he could to the steps in the gun tub. "Got you some water to cool your barrels in," he called out to Revy.

"Good thinking, Rock," she praised him. She let off a short burst and was rewarded with a spray of blood as some of the .30-06 slugs hit the pirate manning a machine gun in an open hatch on the bow deck. The gunmen oin the boat's bridge and aft deck returned fire, but their vessel was lighter than the Black Lagoon and pitched more heavily. They missed by a wide margin. Steadying her aim as much as she could, she tried to hit the helmsman of the pirate craft. She peppered its bridge with bullets, but missed her intended target. He did have to duck, however, and in doing so inadvertently turned the wheel to port, increasing the distance between the two boats. This gave Revy the chance to change barrels and reload. The scorching hot barrel went into the bucket of ice-cold water, resulting in a hissing cloud of steam billowing out inside the Black Lagoon's bridge.

"Here they come again!" Rock yelled. "Dutch, they're trying to cut us off!"

"I see them, Rock! Hang on, everyone!" Dutch again applied full power to the two serviceable engines and turned the wheel to port just as the boats appeared to be about to collide. The torpedo boat's wake rocked the other boat violently, one of the gunmen on its bridge losing his balance and falling overboard. Bracing her back against the guard rails and her legs against the wall of the tub, Revy again let loose with the BAR, raking the target with bullets from stem to stern. This time she did more damage, as one of the outboard engines spluttered, smoked and then caught fire. Dutch made another turn, bringing the Black Lagoon back on its original course.

"Hey, Dutch, don't you want to get rid of those guys for good?" Revy asked.

"I don't want to risk more damage," he replied.

"They've got an engine on fire, from what I see. Just make another pass. Turn right and approach them from directly astern," she told him.

"You better know what you're doing, Revy," Dutch said, but turned the boat anyway.

From her elevated position, Revy could see three men trying to use a fire extinguisher on the blazing engine. She pulled the trigger the second she had them in her sights. Their lifeless bodies sprawled on the deck of their boat in a tangled, bloody heap. "Time to start the jitterbug, baby," she muttered to herself, putting the BAR aside and drawing her Cutlasses.

"What are you going to do?" Rock asked her.

"Boarder away!" she yelled and jumped across the gap between the two boats. Dutch and Rock lost sight of her as the Black Lagoon turned sharply to avoid presenting a target to the gunmen on the forward end of the pirate craft. Rock's gaze traveled to the radio console as he tried to listen to anything Revy might say. All he heard was gunfire.

"Benny, get your ass up here and take over the controls. I'm gonna see if I can help Revy," Dutch ordered over the intercom.

"No need, Boss," Revy cut in. "Just got the last of those fuckheads."

Once again, Rock and Benny marveled at her powers of destruction. The Black Lagoon drew alongside the other vessel, in time to see Revy throwing an empty fire extinguisher over the side, having put out the fire in the starboard outer engine. "Good thinking," Dutch praised her. "Benny, Rock, see if we can use their fuel."

"On it," replied Benny. He soon reported that the other boat had high octane gasoline in its tanks that could be used on the Black Lagoon, so he and Rock quickly set up a transfer pump. In the meantime, Revy was collecting guns, ammunition, money, and generally anything they could use or sell. Even the three intact outboard motors were laboriously lifted on to the torpedo boat and lashed down on the deck. When they were done, she pulled the pin from a grenade and threw it into the other boat as they pulled away. The explosion ignited the fuel vapors remaining in the tanks and the pirate craft went up in an impressive fireball.

Revy was smiling as she observed the results of her handiwork. "Let's go get a beer or two," she suggested.

As Rock turned to follow her, he stopped. "Revy, you're bleeding." He pointed to her left upper arm. A trickle of blood was running from a small cut.

"I didn't even notice it. It's from broken glass, I guess."

"Come on, I'll take care of it for you." He took her hand and led her to the bridge, where he got busy with the first aid kit.

-o-

Ronnie the Jaws had gone down to the docks to meet the Lagoon crew in person and pick up his cargo. "You're late," he remarked. "Ran into bad weather?"

"That, and some rats," replied Dutch. "We took some damage, but your cargo's just fine."

The Italian took a closer look at the torpedo boat's side. "I guess these holes weren't made by termites. Don't worry, Dutch, I'll cover the cost of the repairs."

"Thank you, Ronnie."

"It's nothing compared to the price the cargo will fetch. Besides, expenses are on top of the transport fees, right?" He motioned to his men, who began carrying a large number of wooden crates from the boat to their truck. He also handed Dutch a fat envelope with the rest of the agreed upon fee.

"Always a pleasure doing business with you," Dutch told him.

"Ditto. You've never disappointed me." He looked at his expensive wristwatch. "Well, gotta go. See you around." He turned on his heel and went to his car. When the mobsters departed, Dutch and his crew secured their boat on its beaching cradle and winched it out of the water and into their hangar/warehouse. Together with Benny, the big man inspected it from top to bottom, finding no holes below the waterline, much to their relief. Patching up the bullet holes was going to be the easiest part. Repairing the damaged cooling system for the number one engine was going to take more time, especially if they didn't have all the necessary spares handy. They still had an extensive spares inventory, which had survived the fire started by Weaver and the collapse of the old building not long ago. Rock's excellent managing of the company finances had also allowed them to add to said inventory.

"Anyone hungry?" Benny asked as he and Dutch finished their survey of the boat's condition. The actual repair work could wait until the following morning.

"Starving," replied Revy. "The Kao Khan has sold out by now, dammit!"

"Just as well, because I'm more in the mood for a hotdog," said Dutch. Well, given his massive frame, it'd take more than just one hotdog to satisfy his hunger. The others certainly got the idea, though. As it happened, there was a place near their office selling fantastic hotdogs.

"Whose turn is it to do the food run today?" Dutch asked while they were in the car on the way to the office.

"Mine, I believe," replied Benny. "Revy went the other day."

In the back seat, Revy had fallen asleep. Rock realized it when she slumped onto him. He smiled. She always looked so peaceful and relaxed when she was sleeping. His smile got wider when she snuggled up against him. He still slightly dreaded the moment he was going to have to wake her up, though.

Benny parked the car and immediately went to buy their lunch. Dutch went upstairs, keys in hand. "Revy, wake up, we've arrived," Rock tried to wake her gently.

She just mumbled something unintelligible and tightened her grip on his arm.

"Come on, wake up. If you don't, I'll just leave you here and the guys and I will eat your chili dogs."

"You do that and I'll just shoot you all."

"Aha! So, you're finally awake." He couldn't help but laugh at her cross look, but pulled her out of the car anyway and sent her upstairs. He locked the car and followed her to the office, where he made a beeline to the fridge and got a beer for each of them. Benny soon arrived with the food. There was not much talking after that.

After their late lunch, Rock decided to work on the books. Dutch had already gone out for a walk, while Benny was at home, probably having an internet date with Jane. Revy was lounging on the couch, drinking beer and smoking a cigarette, when the phone rang. The cordless handset was on the table, so she reached out picked it up. "Lagoon Company," she drawled.

"Oh, Two-Hands," came the accented voice of Balalaika. "Is Rock around by any chance?"

"Hang on, sis. Rock, it's for you." She held the handset out to him.

He took it. "Hello, Ms. Balalaika, what can we do for you today?"

"I just got a fax from a Japanese company we do business with, unfortunately in Japanese and not English."

"So, you want me to drop by and translate it?"

"That would be great. How soon can you get here?"

"Give me about half an hour or so," he replied after thinking it over. He was almost done with the company books, but since Benny had taken the car he was going to have to walk or take a cab or a tuk-tuk.

"We are in a rush here, so I've already sent a car to pick you up."

"Oh. In that case, I'll be ready to go as soon as your people get here."

"Good. "See you soon, Yaponski," said Balalaika and hung up.

Rock turned to Revy, but before he could voice the question in his mind she answered it for him. "I'll come with you. I don't think anyone is going to call us about a job and I'd rather see what Balalaika and those two little brats are up to rather than sit here all by myself until Dutch gets back. Just don't forget to leave him a note. Oh, and don't forget to lock up, too."

"Way ahead of you there," he replied, jangling the office keys in front of her with his left hand, while writing a note with his right.

-o-

Upon arriving at the Bougainvillea Trade Company offices, Rock was whisked straight to Balalaika's office, where she was eagerly awaiting him together with Boris. Revy followed him in and exchanged pleasantries with the Russian woman, but soon got bored as the other three got started on the business at hand.

"Revy was quite eager to see Hansel and Gretel again," Rock remarked while studying a page from the document Balalaika needed to have translated.

"The feeling is mutual. They are both asking about her all the time. But you've been staring at this page for a while now. Is there something wrong?"

"Slightly corrupted text," he replied. "I'm trying to make some sense out of this phrase, but be patient. Are they doing OK?"

"Yes, as well as can be expected. They've been through a lot, so they sometimes have nightmares or anxiety attacks. I try to deal with it the best way I can. All the men are also helping a lot. Many of them have children back in Russia and they give me useful pointers. Otherwise, the kids are quite happy here. Living a mostly normal life has done wonders for them."

"Good to know," he said. "By the way, I think I've figured this out." He explained what he believed the Japanese firm wanted and Balalaika agreed with his opinion. Then they proceeded to draft a reply together.

In the meantime, Revy was in the kids' study room, showing Gretel photos of the now customized BAR. "I used it earlier today when some pirates tried to steal our cargo," she told the kids. "It worked like a charm."

"That's nice. I knew you'd find it handy," said Gretel. "Anyway, how are you and Rock doing? I hear you've been going out together quite frequently lately."

"How do you know about this, young lady?"

Hansel answered the question. "The guys here are incorrigible gossipers. My sister and I hear a lot from them when we go to the lounge downstairs. Based on what they say about the two of you, I guess you're having a lot of fun."

"Well, Rock is a pretty great guy and he knows how to treat a lady," she said, blushing uncharacteristically.

Gretel gave her brother a smug look. Turning to Revy, she said "If I may make a suggestion, you could ask him to take you on a picnic. Aunt Sofiya and Boris took Hansel and me to a nice spot by the river last weekend. We had a lot of fun, didn't we, fratele meu?"

"Yes," the boy agreed. "We had a great time. Just like when we had the picnic with you guys on the island."

Revy smiled as she remembered the beach picnic, which incidentally Gretel had asked for. "I may follow your suggestion," she said. All she was going to have to do was drop a hint or two and leave the rest to Rock who was bound to take care of it with his usual efficiency.

-o-

The hints she'd dropped had been very well placed, so on Saturday Rock was taking a turn off the main road just before Slip Knot Bridge and following a fortunately smooth dirt road running parallel to the river. Dutch had a long established policy of no work during weekends unless a job dragged into one or it was a rush job and the client paid premium, so they were free to go on the picnic Revy wanted. She had taken charge of the car radio for the duration of the short trip, while everything else had been left to Rock. An ice chest, a picnic basket and several other items were neatly arranged in the back seat.

"This is perfect," Rock announced, parking the car near a more or less rocky part of the river bank. He'd done his research and decided to avoid grassy areas where they might disturb any wildlife, especially snakes, which neither of them was too fond of. He allowed her to remain in the car while he did all the work. First, he spread a nice checkered waterproof lined blanket. On top of it he placed an inflatable picnic mattress. Then, it was a simple matter of arranging the basket with the food and the ice chest. "All ready," he told her.

"Wow. You certainly went all out today, Rock."

"Anything for you, Revy," he said.

She made herself comfortable on the mattress and sighed contentedly. "This may be one of the best ideas I've ever had," she declared. "I'll have to thank Gretel for suggesting it."

"So, you like it here? And what was that about Gretel?"

"I love it. There's no one around to bother us, it's quiet and you are great company. When we went for your translation job the other day, Gretel told me that Balalaika took her and Hansel on a picnic in this area."

"You are really fond of them, aren't you? You've never missed a chance to see them since we got back from the island."

"You and the others are not any different," she pointed out. "Yes, I like them. They are good kids and now they have a chance at living a good life." She smiled widely. "Now feed me. I skipped breakfast and I'm starving."

He smiled back and opened the basket. In addition to crackers, a variety of cheeses and cold cuts, he'd made several kinds of finger sandwiches. He also added a personal touch, by making bento, just like he used to do sometimes back in Japan.

"We're gonna eat all that?"

"You said you're hungry," he shrugged and proceeded to make some canapés with the crackers, the cheeses, the cold cuts, some dips – eggplant, cheese and paprika – plus some Russian (Olivier) salad, the latter obtained with the help of Boris. He held a canapé teasingly just out of reach of her mouth. She moved like a striking snake, lightning fast, and bit off most of the treat, barely missing his thumb and index finger.

"Mmm, yummy," she commented. "What else have you got?" She could get used to being pampered like this. He smiled at her and presented the plate with the completed canapés, plus the open bento boxes and the selection of beers and soft drinks he'd brought along.

Even though this was their fourth date, they'd never even got around to first base. Revy obviously needed to take her time to adjust and Rock wasn't one to pressure her in any way. Knowing the full details of her past, he'd decided it was better to just be the best possible friend he could for her, leaving taking the initiative for anything more completely up to her. During the meal, she repeatedly praised his culinary skills. Other than that, the conversation was kept light, the subjects mostly revolving around gossip, movies, music and such.

She had taken off her holster rig and kicked off her boots early on. Rock couldn't help but notice how happy she looked and subconsciously once again compared this new Revy to the similar transformation Hansel and Gretel had undergone. She'd had a hard life, but it had eventually led to them meeting and he was definitely not going to complain about it. What he could do, what he was sure to do, was to try everything in his power to give her at least some of the happiness she'd missed out on. She deserved that much and a lot more. Having gotten to know her, he'd realized that she wasn't a bad person, despite having been forced to do bad things to survive. She'd invited him in, which was probably the best thing anyone had done for him, in his opinion. And he knew she cared about him, in her own unique way, as evidenced by the rescue operation she'd orchestrated in Basilan, for example.

"Penny for your thoughts," she said, breaking him out of his reverie.

"I was thinking about how lucky I was to get to meet you guys and come to work with you."

"You really think so?"

"Remember what I told you that day at the market, about how it was waking up from a long sleep when you invited me in? Thanks to you, for the most part, I stopped merely existing and started living. Sure, I could do without people shooting at us, but it's all part of the job, I guess. Sometimes we break the rules to put food on the table, as Dutch told me the first day we met, just after you shot at me for the first time, so getting shot at comes with the territory."

"Rock, give me a beer." Their fingers brushed as he handed her a can of Budweiser. It felt like a jolt of electricity going through both their bodies, starting at their hands. She looked down at their still touching hands and bit her lower lip. "Rock, I want to kiss you now," she said, getting the words out before she could second-guess herself.

"Be my guest, Revy," he said, gently caressing her knuckles with the pads of his fingers and guiding her to put the can of beer down on the picnic blanket.

When their lips met, their eyes fluttered closed and it was like stars were exploding behind their eyelids. The kiss wasn't rough or demanding. It was gentle, soft and chaste. When their lips finally separated, they just stayed close, foreheads touching and eyes still closed.

"Wow," she said breathily. "We should have done this a long time ago."

He chuckled. "Yeah, but I didn't want to get shot. Although, I think I might have grabbed you and kissed you had Watsup not interrupted us at the market. You'd already tried to kill me once that day, so…"

"Sorry about that," she mumbled, keeping her head lowered, which he found adorable, especially since she was always so direct.

"Water under the bridge," he shrugged. "If anything, I think it was necessary in order for us to get where we are today."

"This is really deep, Rock," she chuckled. "But I could get used to your occasional sentimental bullshit."

"Your beer is getting warm."

"Very funny," she growled, but grabbed the can anyway, opened it and took a long sip. "What else have you got for me?"

"Dessert," he declared, taking a plastic container from the ice chest and opening it with a flourish, holding it at an angle for her to see the contents. It was marshmallows, cherries, sliced bananas, white chocolate fudge and caramel squares on sponge cake, skewered on bamboo sticks in various combinations and drizzled with chocolate and caramel syrup. She promptly snatched one stick and began eating the sweet treats on it, moaning as the combined flavors hit her taste buds.

It was getting dark when Rock loaded their stuff in the car and they set off for Roanapur. They had kissed a few more times, with tongue action in a couple of them, and just relaxed, staying close to each other, at one point even holding hands, something Rock had never expected Revy to initiate.

"Do you know what the perfect ending for the day would be?" Revy asked as they neared the bridge and the main road into town.

"A drink at the Flag," he guessed. "Am I right?"

"Yes and no," she said. "As much as I like the place, I have another idea. Let's just go home, watch some TV… maybe get drunk in peace."

He pondered her suggestion for a second. "Is there anything good on TV tonight?"

"Yes," she said excitedly. "It's an Indiana Jones film!"

"I love those movies," he exclaimed. "We should definitely stay in and watch it!"

They opted to go to his room for the movie. The rooms lacked couches, so they were going to have to sit on the bed to watch TV and his room was better arranged for a movie night – plus it was cleaner, which was left unsaid. To make for a more memorable occasion, Rock even made a stop to buy popcorn and soda before going to their hotel. Revy went to her room to get her pillow, since he only had one in his own room. Fortunately, the air conditioner was in working order, so they could snuggle without getting overheated. Revy surprised him further by shimmying out of her shorts before joining him on the bed. He'd seen her in just her tank top and panties several times already, after all. He also followed her suggestion and stripped down to his undershirt and boxer shorts for extra comfort.

Predictably, since they both loved that particular film series, they thoroughly enjoyed Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Despite each having seen it several times before, watching it together for the first time was a memorable experience for them. It was all made even better by the make-out sessions during commercial breaks, nothing extreme, but very pleasant nonetheless. When the end credits started rolling on the screen, Rock felt a weight on his shoulder and arm. The beer and rum they'd consumed had finally taken their toll and Revy was fast asleep, after having managed to stay awake throughout the movie. He smiled when she didn't even stir as he made her more comfortable and settled down to get a good night's sleep himself. With her sharing his bed, he was sure it was going to be very nice indeed.


	14. Chapter 14

Hello everyone! Time for the final installment of this story. As you can plainly see, it begins towards the end of The Gunslingers. Once more, thank you all for your support. Enjoy!

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"Got you something to drink," said Hansel and set a small bottle of orange juice down on the coffee table. "How are you doing with your assignment?"

Gretel looked up from her schoolwork. "I'm almost done," she sighed. "This is not how I expected to spend winter break, you know."

He sat down on the couch next to her. "Yeah, I know… It is unfortunate that Aunt Sofiya had to go on her business trip to Japan, but she'll be back soon." He took a sip of his juice. "I was talking to a couple of Mr. Chang's men in the kitchen. The city is absolute chaos without Aunt Sofiya and her people helping to maintain order. We may need to start packing heat again."

"But didn't Mr. Chang offer to let us stay here exactly so that we won't have to get into this mess?" Gretel asked. The two had come back to Roanapur from school for their vacation, but weren't staying at their place. Instead, they had been given rooms at Chang's beach house. It was much safer than downtown. Without Hotel Moscow's presence and despite the Triad's efforts, the city had become a battleground. When the cat is away, the mice will play, the old adage went and it certainly held true. The situation was going to return to normal when Balalaika and her people returned, but for now it was chaos incarnate. Even venturing out into the streets to go shopping for groceries was dangerous. "And to top it off, Rock and Revy are with Aunt Sofiya in Tokyo," Gretel continued. "Damn it! I was really looking forward to seeing them!"

"Me too," Hansel grumped. He didn't have a chance to continue, because the cell phone they'd left on the glass coffee table rang. He picked it up. "Hello?"

"Good morning, Hansel."

"Aunt Sofiya! How are things in Tokyo?" When Gretel heard who was calling, she pressed close to her brother, trying to listen in on the conversation.

"The job is done and we are coming back to Roanapur. Chang and I just had a talk and it looks like he's going to need some help, so I'm going to take Boris and some of the others and fly back as soon as possible. Plus, I've missed you and your sister a lot. We all have. The guys send their regards."

"Good to know," said Hansel. "Where are you right now?"

"We're just off Shanghai. We'll fly to Thailand from there."

Then hurry back. We both miss you and we hate being cooped up inside, no matter how nice Mr. Chang's beach house is."

Gretel snatched the phone from her brother's hand. "Aunt Sofiya, are Rock and Revy with you? Can I talk to them?"

"No, sweetie, they are not. They'll be flying to Thailand from Tokyo today, as they've told me. Their flight should be in the air as we speak."

"I see. I'll call their office for more details. Hurry back!"

"See you soon," said Balalaika and hung up.

Boris approached her and handed over a message. "We got a call from Shanghai. Apparently, Mr. Chang arranged for a fast boat to pick us and our team up and also arranged for transportation to the airport."

"How very efficient of him," she commented. "The situation in Roanapur must be worse than he's letting on, if he's in such a hurry for us to get back."

"Biu doesn't mince his words. It's a virtual warzone over there."

"Not for much longer," she said resolutely. "Once word spreads that we've returned, things will go back to normal in no time at all." She patted Boris on the shoulder and made her way to the bridge to confer with the Maria Zeleska's captain.

-o-

Jane had decided to surprise Benny with a visit. What she had definitely not been expecting was the situation in the city. It was much worse than her first time there, but with her boyfriend and his boss watching out for her it was bearable – just. At least things would go back to normal by the following day at the latest, according to the information Dutch had picked up. The three of them were sitting in the office, staying away from the windows and trying to keep themselves busy and/or entertained when the phone rang.

Benny picked it up. "Lagoon Company," he drawled.

"Good morning Benny," Gretel said brightly.

"Hello, Gretel," he returned the greeting. "How's school? Need some help with your computer?"

"Eh, it's fine. And no, my computer is working perfectly, thank you. I'm calling about Rock and Revy. I talked to my aunt earlier and she said they'll be flying home today."

"Indeed. Dutch talked to them over the phone just before their flight was about to board." Benny paused and glanced at the clock on the wall. "In fact, their plane should be landing in Bangkok soon. They'll then get on another flight to Trat."

"Thanks Benny. I'll let Hansel know as well. By the way, Aunt Sofiya, Boris and some of the guys are also flying in from Shanghai today."

"Now that's some good news. I'm getting rather tired of having to dodge bullets every time I stick my head out the door."

"Balalaika's coming back sooner than expected?" Dutch asked upon hearing Benny's comment.

"Yeah, looks like it," replied Benny.

"And not a moment too soon," Jane commented. "I came here for some fun with you and so far it's been nothing like what I had in mind."

Benny just gave a helpless shrug and continued talking to Gretel. He promised to tell Rock and Revy to give the kids a call as soon as they got back. As he set the phone handset down on the coffee table, a burst of gunfire could be heard, coming from the street outside, followed by the wail of police sirens. "See what I mean?" Jane grumbled.

"The moment word gets around that Balalaika is coming back, things will quiet down," Dutch said calmly. "Just give it an hour or two. Chang knows how to spread the news."

-o-

Meanwhile, the airliner Rock and Revy were on was winging its way closer to Thailand with every passing minute. The pain medication Revy was taking for her injured leg was also making her drowsy. She was snuggled up against Rock, sound asleep. She still had her wig and her winter clothing on, except for the jacket, of course. Early on, Rock had asked a stewardess for a light blanket to cover her as she slept. He checked his watch. The plane would begin its descent in about an hour. He still had plenty of time before he was going to have to rouse Revy and send her to the lavatory to remove her thick sweater and pantyhose, as Thailand was a lot hotter than Japan, even in the middle of winter.

He didn't have to, though. She woke up on her own. "Mmmhm, Rocky baby, are we there yet?"

"Not yet. We still have a little more than an hour until we land. How's your leg?"

"It's not bothering me right now," she replied. "You mentioned something about a job Dutch has lined up for us earlier. Care to give me the specifics?"

"Won't you sit this one out? I'm pretty sure Dutch won't mind."

"And let my partner go without me? Hell no," she said with conviction. "Besides, even with a bad leg, I can handle guns just fine." She smiled at his look of concern. "Besides, I'll be real careful and I promise not to do anything to make it worse, OK?"

He smiled back and lightly kissed her on the lips. "OK."

"Now, tell me about the job."

"It's rather simple, actually. Sister Yolanda called and asked us to pick up some cargo for her from her middleman in Cambodia and deliver it to her in Roanapur. Pretty straightforward, at least that's what Dutch said. Plus, it's close enough to do the entire run at high speed. It's been arranged for the day after tomorrow, so you'll have time to rest your leg."

Revy chuckled. Rock had been acting like a worried mother hen ever since her leg had been skewered by Ginji's katana, always coddling her and asking if she needed anything all the time. And she found it both annoying and adorable at the same time, even though it occasionally drove her nuts. He'd even gone so far as to ignore her orders to let her sleep and woke her up when the inflight meal was served. He'd insisted on her having something to eat, as she was on some pretty heavy painkillers.

Wanting to get home as soon as possible, Rock had booked them seats on a connecting flight to Trat. It was only a short drive to Roanapur from the small airport near the provincial capital. He also called Dutch to let him know their flight had landed at Don Mueang and also told him when to expect them at Trat Airport.

Both Dutch and Benny were waiting to greet them at the open-air terminal of Trat Airport. Although they knew about Revy's injury, they were taken aback for a second or two when they saw her leaning heavily on her crutch. Dutch moved swiftly to relieve Rock of some of the luggage he was carrying, while Benny went to get the car after welcoming the two back.

"Did you get my boys, Benny?" Revy asked, referring to her Cutlasses, which she'd sent back to Roanapur the same way Benny had sent them to her in Japan.

"Yup, picked them up yesterday," he replied. "We've got one right here. Fair warning, though: Praiyachat wasn't very happy with you when he saw what happened to the other."

"I'll deal with the old fart. Money won't be an object either. Just give me my gun. We might need it."

"Not really," Benny shrugged. "Balalaika is also coming back today, flying in from Shanghai, according to the kids. As soon as the news got around, things quieted down. It seems that no one wants to piss her off."

As soon as the car turned into the road leading to Roanapur, Revy whipped the wig off of her head. "Damn, I'm getting too fucking hot wearing this thing. It kept my head nicely warm in Japan, but damn!" As she spoke, she finger-combed her hair and put it back in her usual ponytail. "Can we stop at the Yellow Flag?"

"No," replied Rock. "You are still taking your pain pills."

"Well, I can skip one or two," she said. "The last time I took one was hours ago, on the plane from Japan. If my leg starts to hurt, I'll just have to drink some more rum."

"I can't win this, can I?"

"Nope." She laughed at the look on his face. "Stop worrying, Rock. I know what I'm doing."

Even though it was still early afternoon, the Yellow Flag was busy. It allowed Revy to slip into the ladies' room unnoticed and change into her usual clothes, shoving the ones she'd worn on the trip back home into a small travel bag. The crutch was hard to miss though.

"What the hell happened to you?" Bao asked. "Did you look the wrong way while crossing a street? I know the Japs drive on the wrong side of the road."

"Would you believe I got stabbed by a fuckin' samurai sword?"

"No way!"

"Yes way. It hurt like a bitch, still does, plus I'm thirsty as hell, so bring us a bottle of Bacardi."

Bao got her and Rock a bottle and two glasses. "If you are still walking around, I can guess what happened to the other guy."

"Your guess is correct. Damn shame though… he was very good with that blade. I saw with my own eyes when he used it to cut two bullets in half." She poured two glasses and raised hers. "To Jumbo," she said. "He was a worthy opponent."

Rock nodded and raised his glass as well. "To us for surviving this job," he added. They smiled at each other and drank. Rock then lit a cigarette, while Revy snatched a salted pretzel stick from a holder Bao had placed on the bar and munched on it.

They were still drinking and talking when Eda happened to wander by. She'd gone shopping the moment things in the city returned to normal, having been cooped up in the church until then. The mere sight of the bar compelled her to enter and enjoy a cold beer. And then she saw the Lagoon Company crew and noticed the redhead's bandaged leg and her crutch. "Jesus H. Motherfuckin' Christ, Revy, what the fuck happened to you?"

"Hello Revy, nice to see you're back, how was Japan?" Revy shot back sarcastically. "Thank you Eda, it was frickin' cold over there and we went for work and not on vacation. That's how people greet each other."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Let me repeat the question: What the fuck happened to you?"

"You need to sit down and have a drink first." Revy used her good leg to snag a stool and drag it over next to hers. And thus, for the second time that afternoon, she described how she'd been hurt.

"I bet Rock freaked out," Eda said finally, shaking her head.

"Uh, no, he didn't. He was worried, of course, but giving me some basic first aid and getting me to a doctor were his priorities. I'm proud to say he's tougher than he looks. Being around us has done him good."

Of course, Eda wanted to learn the juicy details of Rock and Revy's trip to Japan. She knew the two were going out together all the time, but both were tight lipped about what exactly they were up to on their dates. With Dutch and Benny being there as well, she knew she had no hope of making anyone talk. Therefore, she contented herself with making small talk with Benny about him and Jane.

Revy perked up when she heard the latter name mentioned. "Yeah, you didn't tell us, Benny, how did she end up coming here?"

He smiled. "She just wanted to surprise me. And she did. That's just about it. I'm taking her out to dinner later."

"Rock here knows a few good places he could suggest to you," Revy said offhandedly.

"Yeah, I know. Between the two of you, you could write a Michelin guide for the restaurants of Roanapur." Benny's green eyes twinkled with mirth behind his glasses.

"Just a Michelin guide, Benny? He could write a fucking manual on how to properly romance a lady."

"Wow," Eda interrupted. "Looks like the two of you have gone farther than you're letting on."

"Shut up, Eda. Whatever's going on between Rock and me is our business and ours alone." She slammed back the rest of her drink and lit a cigarette. Secretly, she enjoyed Eda's frustration at not being able to make them tell more about their relationship. Dutch and Benny knew more, but only because the former had caught the two of them leaving Rock's room together one morning.

An idea came to Eda while she sipped her beer. "It's been very boring around here the past few days. Why don't you come up to the church for drinks and maybe poker tomorrow?"

"Thanks, but I think I'll pass," replied Revy.

"You're no fun anymore."

"Look, I just have some things planned for tomorrow, OK? Let's reschedule until we are done with the job the old skank gave us for the day after tomorrow."

"Well, that works for me." She was hoping to ply Revy with enough alcohol to loosen her tongue sufficiently to get her to spill at least a few juicy details.

-o-

Balalaika put her suitcase down by the door and went to her closet, wanting to find a more casual outfit. Since the business in Japan was finished, she now had time to do whatever she wanted. Foremost on her mind was spending time with the Twins. Even though her trip had turned out to be quite profitable, she wasn't happy with having had to miss their return to the city. She finally settled on a tight fitting pair of jeans and a shirt, so she laid the items down on her bed and went to take a quick shower. Afterwards, she went to the living room. Biu was soon going to bring Hansel and Gretel home. The pounding of running feet on the stairs told her that they had finally arrived.

"Aunt Sofiya, where are you?" That was Hansel.

"Living room," she called out. In seconds, the children's arms were around her. "Hello, you two. Sorry I had to miss a few days of your vacation."

"You're back now, so everything is fine," said Gretel, not letting go of her aunt. "Before you ask, we've already finished our homework assignments, so we're free to do anything you want."

"What I want? What about what you want?"

"All right, we'll figure something out, right, fratele meu?"

"I'll be happy to leave the planning to you and aunt Sofiya, sora mea."

"Good. Now that we've settled the matter, how about I take you out to dinner?" Balalaika laughed. "I heard about a nice place I want to try."

"Sure," both replied in unison.

The blond woman smiled and motioned for them to follow her. Maybe she'd give Chang a call and see if he wanted to join them as well. Right now she could stop being a ruthless organized crime boss and just be the Twins' honorary aunt. She was also thinking about what she could do for their upcoming birthday. This was definitely a matter she could further discuss with some of her subordinates who were family men, but a nice party, with the kids' classmates and also their adult friends invited, sounded like a very good idea. The only problem she could foresee was managing to keep it a surprise. Well, she could outsource some of the planning and Rock was an ideal candidate for this.

-o-

Eda and Revy got together for drinks as arranged. The job had turned out to be easy and despite the tempting cargo – a shitload of guns – the Lagoon Company had not run into any trouble. They were sitting at the altar drinking, smoking and talking about this and that. Finally, Eda decided to ask about what she really wanted to know. "And? How was Japan, huh?"

Revy shrugged. "Well, we were there working for Balalaika. You know; new country, same old bullshit."

This wasn't what she wanted to hear and leaned forward. "What are you talking about? I'm asking about Rock, bitch." She smiled and her voice acquired a suggestive tone. "You two were away together for a long time. So, did you get some, or what?"

Revy turned her head to hide the evil smirk on her face. Rock was hers and she was his, but Eda had no business sticking her nose in their relationship. But she could play a game of cat and mouse with the blond woman. "I don't wanna say."

"Huh?" Eda was flabbergasted. What the fuck was wrong with her friend? She was going out on dates with Rock but not getting some action? Then she started laughing. "When it comes to you and men, huh? You may as well be dead!"

Revy slammed her glass down on the altar and shot to her feet, drawing one of her Cutlasses and aiming it at a stained glass window behind Eda. "That's the thing. We fuckers don't die so easy. Bang!" Of course, she hadn't pulled the trigger. The gun went back into its holster and Revy sat back down.

"Now, you've lost me. Are you two fucking or not? It's a simple question, Revy. A yes or no will suffice as an answer."

"I have another answer for you, bitch: It's none of your fucking business, you got me?"

"Geez, simmer down! What got into you?"

"I'm getting real tired of you, and others, asking about Rock and me. Nosy types aren't too popular around here, you know that."

"Yeah, but that's just for business. Gossip is a different matter altogether and it's a popular pastime around here, as you very well know." She sighed. "You are one of the few people in this world I count as friends, Revy. As your friend, I want you to be happy."

Revy smiled. "I'm happy. I really am. Let's just leave it at that."

"OK. Have it your way. All this talking has made me thirsty. Care for another round?"

"Have I ever said no to good booze, especially when it's free?" Revy shot back. Both laughed and got back to their drinking.

-o-

The birthday party was in full swing. Chang had liked the idea when Balalaika called to invite him and suggested they have it at his beach house. The two crime bosses had even hired a DJ and a lifeguard. The latter turned out to be none other than Lotton the Wizard and he was diligently watching over those who had decided to take a dip in the pool. Hansel and Gretel were both in seventh heaven. They were enjoying more of the things they had missed out on for so long. Right now, they were with some of their classmates, having ice cream floats (they had developed an addiction of sorts to them). Their adult friends were there as well and not neglected either. When the time for the cake and the presents came, the guests sang Happy Birthday to the Twins, who blew out the candles together and then, at their friends' urging, opened their presents. This led to a round of happy squealing (by Gretel), big smiles (by both) and hugs and high-fives distributed all round.

"At least we can say we did one thing right in this life," Chang commented, sidling up to Balalaika at the open bar. "Look how happy they are."

"I couldn't have said it better," she agreed. "We owe them both a lot and not just for warning us of Verrocchio's plot to kill us."

He realized what she was talking about. The kids' presence in their lives was like a ray of sunshine in the darkness of the City of Sin. It had helped save a big part of their humanity and could be considered part atonement for their various sins. "So, how are they doing at school?"

"Better than even they themselves expected," she replied. "If they keep it up, they'll manage to get into a very good university, eventually."

"You're thinking ahead. I guess having a family, even an unconventional one, does this to a person."

"I also have people in Romania looking for their biological family. I had precious few leads to give them, so it may take a while." She stubbed out her cigar and smiled. "Shall we go mingle with their friends' parents?"

He held out his arm for her. "By all means." He looked at the children sitting in a half circle in front of his number two. "By the way, I've known Biu for years and never even suspected that he was such a talented amateur magician. They do bring out the best in everyone."

-o-

Months later…

The persistent knocking on the door woke Rock up. "Who is it?"

"It's me," Benny's voice came from behind the closed door. "We just got a rush job. Dutch wants us at the docks pronto. Get Revy and meet me downstairs. You have about fifteen minutes."

"OK," Rock called back and turned to the still sleeping woman whose naked body was tangled up with his. She looked so peaceful that he almost hated to have to wake her up. He kissed her lightly on the lips and shook her shoulder. "Revy baby, wake up."

"Five more minutes, Rock," she rasped sleepily.

"We don't have five more minutes. Benny's waiting downstairs and he says we got a rush job. Come on, up you get." He sat up, pulling her with him. "We have just enough time for a quick shower."

She gave him a sleepy glare and padded to his bathroom, enticingly wiggling her rear. "Rock, are you coming or what?"

"The things you do to me, woman," he muttered and followed her. They didn't have the time for anything more than a quick make-out session as they showered, but made the best of it anyway. Fifteen minutes later, they emerged from the building fully dressed and ready to face the day.

"What was important enough to interrupt my sweet dreams for, Benny?" Revy asked as she got in the GTO.

"According to Dutch, it's a simple pickup and delivery, in other words our bread and butter."

"We are a delivery company after all," Rock added.

"You'll enjoy it, I think," said Benny. "You'll get to hijack something important and play good cop-bad cop with Dutch, just like back when we first met Rock."

She lit a cigarette and grinned. "Sounds like fun. I won't be kidnapping anyone for ransom this time, though. Once was more than enough." She nudged Rock playfully with her elbow.

Rock laughed. "I, for one, will be eternally grateful to you for kidnapping me. You changed my life, Revy."

"And you changed mine." He indeed had. As she liked to say, he'd helped patch her soul up enough for her to become as close to being a normal woman as life in a city like Roanapur allowed.

"Damn, you two make Jane and I look bad in comparison," commented Benny.

"What can I say?" Rock asked. "I love her."

"And I love him," Revy added. The two shared a loving kiss in the back seat of the car.

"I'm playing taxi driver to a pair of high schoolers," groaned Benny from the driver's seat.

A screech of tires came from somewhere behind the car as a Harley-Davidson swerved and almost crashed when its rider saw what was going on. They all looked and laughed. Eda glared at them at first, but then smiled and waved before gunning the engine and speeding past them.

THE END

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K2 Black Panther: First of all, thank you for your kind review on the previous chapter. I'm also a tank lover (i.e. aficionado) and a modeler. As far as South Korean tanks go, the K2 is good looking, but the K1A1 is my favorite, for its baby Abrams looks. My all time favorite modern tank is the Leopard 2A6HEL, by the way.

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Coming up next, a collection of short stories, one- or two-shots, to be published concurrently (if my schedule allows) with another Rock/Revy fic and maybe even another AU fic starring the Vampire Twins. Until next time!


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